


Broomsticks and Cauldrons

by XBeautifulDreamerX



Category: Andi Mack (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Amber and TJ are related, Angst b/c they're teenagers, Buffy is a Gryffindor beater for the same ones, Cyrus is the main disaster gay but TJ is a close second, Hogwarts AU, Kippen Siblings, M/M, TJ is a Slytherin seeker for obvious reasons, TJ is in the same year as the GHC and so are Jonah and Walker, Tyrus - Freeform, soft and gooey TJ because that's the best TJ, the characters are ALL 16 in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-08-25 14:03:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16662323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XBeautifulDreamerX/pseuds/XBeautifulDreamerX
Summary: Cyrus Goodman has always been very good at potions, so it should come as no surprise he immediately thinks TJ Kippen only wants to be his partner for good marks. That is the furthest thing from the truth, but sometimes fate takes a while to get to people. Especially when your friends are standing in the way along with a couple pesky professors. And Cyrus thought Quidditch was confusing.TJ Kippen has had a crush on Cyrus Goodman for almost two years, but he also knows he has no chance with him. That doesn't stop him from flirting and trying his best to get his attention in the most un-platonic way possible. It helps nobody that his friends are aware of his crush and use every chance possible to tease him over it.Otherwise known as, the fic where Cyrus and TJ are oblivious but with magic this time.





	1. Chapter 1

Cyrus’ Point of View:

Imagine my surprise when someone I didn’t know sat beside me on the first day of potions. I’m in my sixth year, I thought I knew every face at Hogwarts by this point. Well, I’ve seen him around but never spoken to him… even if he was incredibly handsome.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” he asked, looking at me with sparkly green eyes. 

I looked around the room and saw a bunch of other empty seats, making me knit my eyebrows. “Yeah, sure. I’m Cyrus.”

“I know,” he replied, making my eyebrows raise again. “Uh, because we’ve had potions together for two years now.”

Had we? That would explain why he looked vaguely familiar. I watched his eyes flash over to a table and mine followed, spying a handful of other Slytherin boys gathered around it. Ah, he was here to try and get an O in the class… everything made sense now.

“I’m TJ,” he said, extending his hand to me and making me raise a brow. “It’s a handshake, you take it in yours and move you arm up and down.”

I took his hand and did as he instructed, realizing a beat later I knew how to do this. “I’m a pure blood, but I’m not ignorant.”

I couldn’t tell you why I reacted that way, I guess I was just worried TJ was doing something sketchy. The way his friends looked over at us made me feel uneasy. As long as he didn’t interfere, I didn’t honestly mind carrying our marks this semester. I was good at potions, gifted according to my father, and could do it easily.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” he said, the tone of his voice sounded almost nervous. “I just didn’t want you to think I was doing something weird.”

“Right,” I nodded, flashing him a reassuring smile before going back to my textbook.

“Students! It’s wonderful to see so many attentive faces set to learn!” Professor Slughorn announced, walking into the classroom right as the clock struck 11 am.

Conversation between TJ and I fizzled out, I was too focused on Slughorn. Then I realized he was giving the same speech he did at the start of every term and relaxed back in my seat. I glanced down at my parchment when I heard the scratch of a quill.

TJ: You aren’t paying attention?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw TJ smirking as he watched Slughorn. Was he sending me notes in class? I was pretty baffled by his action, but I replied regardless.

Cyrus: This is the same lecture he gives every term. I don’t think I’m going to miss much, I can boil and stir a cauldron.

TJ: I just didn’t see you as the type, I’m surprised.

Cyrus: I know I’m not what the kids call ‘cool’ and everything… but I like to think I’m relatively smart.

TJ: Yeah, I’ve gathered that much.

So, I was right. He was sitting with me to save his potions’ grade. He probably wanted to be an Auror or something and needed to pass this class to qualify. Even if I had the sneaking suspicion, it still sort of stung to know I’d been right.

Cyrus: Right.

I tapped my wand to the parchment before TJ could reply, making it blank again. I started taking notes from Slughorn’s lecture for something to do. The last thing I needed was to be distracted by another attractive, straight guy. My heart was still healing from Jonah and that hadn’t even ended badly… he just liked girls and Quidditch.

“Today, we’re going to be starting relatively simple,” Slughorn announced, turning to face us instead of the blackboard. “We’re brewing a wit-sharpening potion. This should be a review from fourth year, so I’m expecting nearly perfect potions from all of you! Now, get started!”

I checked my potions kit and saw I needed more scarab beetles. “Do you have scarabs? I’m out.”

He looked through his own kit and came out with a container. “Yeah, I restocked before term started.”

“I need to do that on the next Hogsmeade weekend,” I said distractedly, pulling out the ginger and armadillo bile I did have. “Do you mind grinding those scarabs up?”

“Sure,” he replied, but I was focused on cutting up the ginger correctly. 

I tossed the chunks into the cauldron and stirred anti-clockwise until the brew turned bright green. TJ was still grinding up the scarabs, so I poured the armadillo bile and continued stirring as the liquid slowly changed to a cool blue. 

Without speaking, TJ sprinkled the ground-up beetles into the potion like the book instructed. The brew was red now, going exactly like I remembered from fourth year. Then I let it rest before stirring clockwise now with a dash more of armadillo bile, the contents turning yellow quicker than I remembered.

The two of us worked very well together I learned when TJ took the ginger, slicing it up into slivers this time like the instructions required. Then he diced them up, tossing them into the cauldron in a circle for me to stir, turning the potion bright green again. I added the last bit of armadillo bile, wincing at the smell, and saw the potion turn purple this time -a perfect brew.

“And now we let it simmer for ten minutes,” I said, sitting down the stirrer and then taking a seat on my stool to set our timer. “Why’d you sit with me?”

I hadn’t meant to ask that so bluntly, but subtlety has never really been my specialty. TJ’s cheeks seemed to flush a little at the question. Did I imagine that? Why would he have been embarrassed by my question? I didn’t get the impression he was ever anything but arrogant and cocky. 

“I don’t know, I guess I wanted to branch out a little,” he replied a beat too late to be believable. 

I sighed, closing my eyes in frustration. “You can just say you wanted me to do the work, so you could pass the class.”

I sensed his entire body tightening, making me open my eyes to see him glaring at the table. “Yeah, that has to be it. I’m the stupid Quidditch guy, I know.”

That threw me for a loop, I’d never thought he was stupid. He was in OWL level potions, he had to be smart to be here. He’d done well on his OWLs; other people couldn’t take those for you. I just assumed he wanted me to cushion his marks or something while he focused on other things. 

The timer went off and stopped us from saying anything else, not that TJ seemed to want that. He added the final amount of ginger roots and I stirred the potion until it turned the final bright orange color that signaled the potion was perfectly brewed. 

Wordlessly, TJ pulled a phial out of his things and ladled some of the potion into it. Then I watched him scribble our last names onto it, heading up to Slughorn without saying anything to me. 

I saw Slughorn grin and exclaim something, patting TJ’s shoulder. I watched him come back over to our table and start gathering up his things. I turned on the faucet, pouring the potion down the drain and casting the cleansing spell to make sure it was gone. Then I started gathering my things, realizing TJ was already gone when I looked over at his seat.

Well, I’d ruined that completely. People didn’t like when you pointed out their intentions, especially when they weren’t good. I carried that thought with me the entire way to lunch, sitting at the Gryffindor table today with Buffy and Jonah. Andi and Walker would join me when class dismissed. 

The group of us changed tables every day, sometimes we’d sit at the Ravenclaw table with Andi and Walker and sometimes we’d sit at the Hufflepuff table with my House. Buffy and I have been friends since we were kids, our mothers working together at the Ministry. We met Andi first year on the train, instantly becoming friends. Jonah played Quidditch with Buffy while Walker dated Andi.

I couldn’t stop thinking about TJ and how weird potions had been. He’d mentioned he played Quidditch and made me realize the real reason why he was familiar. He was the Slytherin seeker and the captain, Buffy always complained about him. She said he was arrogant and didn’t play fair. 

“What’s up, Cy-Guy?” Jonah asked, sitting across from me as students started filing into the room. “You look distracted.”

I sighed and shook myself, pouring some pumpkin juice. “Potions was rough this morning.”

“Huh? I thought it was your favorite,” Jonah replied, knitting his brows between filling his plate with food.

“It is but being partners with TJ the Quidditch guy isn’t,” I sighed, nodding to Buffy as she joined us at the table.

“What about Kippen? Is he bothering you? I’d love a reason to use a bat bogey hex!” Buffy cried, sitting down by me. “Tell me I get to try it out!”

I shook my head and finished chewing my sandwich before I replied. “No, don’t hex him. I think he’s only using me for a higher mark. I called him out on it and he got super defensive, so I don’t think he’ll be my partner on Wednesday.”

“Is there a particular reason a couple Slytherin guys are watching our table?” Andi asked, sitting down with Walker just behind her. “Like, it’s not even the usual menacing glare the Gryffindor table gets.”

We all looked over at the green and silver table to see the group of guys sitting with TJ looking at us. He immediately looked away when he was caught, but his friends just flashed us sneering looks before following suit. 

“What’s happening?” Andi continued. 

I sighed and explained potions to the others, seeing Buffy’s eye start twitching. It was no secret the two hated each other, Slytherin-Gryffindor games were always brutal between them. Even if he was a seeker, he often directed his team to hit bludgers at her when she had possession of the quaffle. 

“Are you serious? He really had the audacity to try and use you?” she cried, making me scramble to shut her up. 

“No, Buffy, be quiet!” I hissed, glancing around to see if anybody had heard her. “It’s not a big deal. It’s been dealt with, don’t make it into a bigger problem. Please?”

She wanted to stay angry, but she didn’t want to make me anymore anxious. Thankfully, Walker changed the conversation subtly and attention left me. It gave me time to think about those guys looking over at us. I vaguely recognized them, meaning they were probably also on the Quidditch team with TJ. Why were they all looking over here? Why did TJ immediately look away when he met my eye? Was he telling them all about me, saying I was a suck up or something? The questions all weighed heavily on my shoulders.

“Cy, are you going to finish your lunch?” Andi asked, pointing to my half-eaten sandwich. “You always eat at least two of those.”

I just nodded absentmindedly, going back to my sandwich and potato. “Yeah, I was just thinking about arithmancy next.”

“You’re such a freak for enjoying that class as much as you do,” Buffy told me good-naturedly, smiling at me over her goblet of water. “How you love that but hate Quidditch will never make sense to me.”

“I’ve never missed any of your games,” I reminded her pointedly. “I’m your and Jonah’s biggest fan. You know that.”

Jonah nodded, smiling happily as he bumped fists with me. “I don’t know what I’d do without my Cy-Guy cheering me on.”

“Still be awesome because you’re talented,” I replied easily, finishing my sandwich and grabbing another. “This is common knowledge.”

Sometimes I remembered how much I used to like him, how his smile made my breath freeze in my throat. There were still moments where I was caught up with how attractive he was, but it was nothing like it used to be. Watching him and Andi kiss and play their weird little game of romance killed all those feelings back in fourth year before she got with Walker. 

“I’m going to head to class,” I announced after I finished my second sandwich and potatoes along with my juice. “We’re still meeting at the lake to do homework after class, right?”

“Yep,” Andi answered, then added playfully, “Don’t overdo it on all those equations! It’s only the first day!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I told her, tossing my hand over my shoulder at her. “Bye, guys!”

I’d gotten halfway to class when I heard footsteps behind me. I figured it was Walker jogging to catch up with me because we shared the class. My pace slowed, waiting for him to catch up with me only to realize it wasn’t him. TJ fell into step beside me and made me completely stop walking, flashing him a confused look.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked, plainly curious.

“I reacted badly to you earlier and I want to apologize,” he said quietly, looking down at his feet instead of at me. “I’m just touchy about being stupid. Not that you would know that or probably even meant it that way… I’m just, I’m sorry.”

That was the last thing I expected him to say to me. I figured he was going to come yell at me again for assuming things or something. I’d always got the impression he was mean.

“Oh, it’s okay. I wasn’t implying you were stupid, I just didn’t understand why you would want to be my partner,” I told him, twisting my robes between my fingers. “I mean, we don’t exist in the same worlds. I’m weird and anxious and you seem pretty calm and collected.”

That made him flash me a grin. “I chose to be your partner, Cyrus. I know you’re smart, probably the best at potions at Hogwarts. I wanted to work with you because all my friends are idiots who barely pass because of their names, but I want to get good marks. I’m trying to get into the Healers’ Academy after school and need amazing scores for that.”

“You want to be a Healer?” I asked, followed by, “You think I’m smart?”

His little grin turned into a full smirk as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, continuing to walk me to class. “I know you’re smart, Cyrus.”

For whatever reason, that made me blush and look hard at the cobblestone ahead of us. “I never thought you were stupid.”

He didn’t say anything at first, making me risk a peek up at his face. He looked relieved and a little… glad? It was almost like he wanted me to think highly of him or something. 

“This is where we part,” he announced, stopping at the door of my arithmancy class. “I dropped this the second it was an option, my brain’s not wired that way.”

He moved his arm from my shoulder and winked at me before loping off down the hall. I’d walked inside and talked with Professor Vector until class started before I realized… I never told TJ I was going to arithmancy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made Cyrus a bit more bookish in this fic, but it is also an AU story. He's a dork in the show, but I kind of wanted to write him a hair different.

Cyrus' Point of View:

Being TJ’s potions’ partner wasn’t that bad, it was actually nice to work with someone. None of my friends kept it after OWLs were over, meaning I was alone. Most people didn’t want to partner with me, and I understood why, so I just did things on my own. 

We were working together on brewing a blood replenishing potion, and it was really complicated. I’d shed my robes and loosened my tie, rolling up the sleeves of my dress shirt and cardigan. TJ’s hair was even messed up as he worried over the potion as much as I did.

“I don’t understand why it’s not bubbling and doesn’t smell like iron!” I cried, glaring at the frothy brow liquid. “We did everything right, I watched, and it’s not even the right color! Let’s go over the instructions again and see if we find the mistake.”

I listed off ingredients and their requirements, TJ ticking them off out loud. Then I got to the nine lionfish spines and he was quiet. I looked up from the textbook to see he was pale and rubbing his hand over his face, not meeting my eye.

“What’s wrong?” I asked slowly. “You added the spines, didn’t you? I watched you crush them up and toss them in.”

He seemed almost embarrassed when he finally spoke, “Uh, yeah, I did crush them… but I didn’t crush nine. I did six.”

“Oh, that’s not a big deal. We can fix that easily,” I said, relief coursing through me. “I’ll just grind up three more. That’s fixable, we didn’t ruin the potion.”

I crushed the spines and added them to the potion, stirring it and watching it turn bright red like it was supposed to. The iron smell was thick around me and I left it to simmer after I set the timer. I’d sat back down on my stool, turning to talk to TJ only to find him still staring at the table with a frown marring his face.

“TJ, what’s wrong?” I asked quietly, reaching out to touch his arm but stopping a few inches short. “It’s not a big deal, we fixed it.”

“No, I told you I wasn’t an idiot then messed up the potion. I’m going to bring down your marks because sixes and nines get jumbled in my head,” he grumbled, his fists clenched where they sat in his lap. 

“We didn’t mess the potion up, it just took a little longer. We’re still way ahead of the other people,” I reassured him, still keeping my hands to myself. Then I asked quieter, “Does that happen a lot with numbers? Is it why you dropped arithmancy?”

I braced myself for his anger, but he just wilted instead. “Yeah, but don’t say anything. I don’t need to give people anymore reasons to think I’m just the stupid Quidditch guy.”

The timer rang and I ladled potion into a phial, writing our names neatly on it. “Do you want to come with me after class? It’s a single period, and I want to show you something.”

He looked a little skeptical but nodded slowly regardless. I couldn’t explain why, but I wanted to do something about how sad he looked. There was something just under the surface of TJ Kippen that I really wanted to uncover.

“Wonderful! Thank you, Mr. Goodman,” Professor Slughorn exclaimed when I handed him our potion. “I knew you and Mr. Kippen could make amazing things when put together.”

“Thank you, professor,” I told him, smiling happily and trying to ignore the way his praise of mine and TJ’s partnership made something flutter in my stomach.

I went back to my table and saw TJ had already cleaned it up, my cauldron upturned in the sink to drain. My things were already packed before I left, so the two of us headed out of the dungeons together. I didn’t miss the way his friends flashed him teasing smiles, wincing at the thought of being the butt of a joke -pushing the thought away instead of ruining things. 

We ventured outside the castle and he looked at me curiously. “Where are you taking me?” 

“There’s this place in the Forbidden Forest that I go sometimes when I’m nervous or anxious. It makes me feel quiet,” I explained, tucking my hands into the pockets of my trousers. 

I had four parents, my biological ones divorced when I was five and married other people. All four of them did the same job, they worked with people who had mental health problems within the wizarding world. Regardless of the advice they gave me, I preferred to go be with the thestrals whenever my brain felt too loud. Not even mentioning the pressure I always felt to be perfect, but that was something else.

I traipsed through the trees, ignoring the creeping feeling of worry I always got. Headmistress McGonagall gave me permission to visit the thestrals as long as I ventured no further, but it still felt strange. I liked following the rules, they were in place for a reason.

“I didn’t think you were one to break the rules,” TJ observed as I followed the worn path to their paddock. 

“It’s not necessarily breaking the rules,” I argued, sidestepping to avoid a big rock. “Headmistress McGonagall gave me permission to be here.”

That made a ghost of a smile tug at his lips. “Of course, you asked permission to break the rules. I’m not surprised.”

I only huffed indignantly and held out an arm to stop him from going any further. “You may want to wait out here and let me go in first.”

“Did you bring me somewhere dangerous?” he asked, raising a brow. “I’m impressed.”

I rolled my eyes this time and sat my bag on the ground, whistling as I walked into the paddock. It took a few seconds before the first thestral walked out from the trees. It saw me and blew a raspberry in the air, making the others come out with them.

“I brought a friend with me today. Don’t freak out,” I said softly, holding out a hand for them to sniff. “I promise, it’s okay. He won’t hurt you, I don’t even know if he can see you.”

I went back to TJ and took his hand, pulling him into the paddock with me. “Uh, Cyrus, who are you talking to? There’s nothing here.”

My suspicion had been correct. “They’re thestrals. Do you remember them from care of magical creatures?"

“You can only see them if you’ve seen somebody die, right?” he asked quietly, squinting at the air as he tried to see something. 

“Yes, that’s right,” I answered, smiling at the babies rolling around on the ground with each other. “I was in the room when my Nan passed at Mungo’s.”

“I’m sorry,” TJ replied, squeezing my hand and making me realized our palms were still pressed together. “Do they really look like horses with leather skin?”

“Yeah, they’re kind of beautiful in a macabre way,” I replied, leading him forward to a mare. “Do you want to pet one?”

“Aren’t they… dangerous?” he asked in a skeptical voice, trying to hide his fear. 

“Technically, but only if you threaten them or their young. So, unless you play on chasing after them, you should be good,” I replied, releasing his hand in favor of raising it and holding it out. “They’ll smell you first and then touch their nose to your hand.”

He looked skeptical and a little afraid, but I held strong. The thestral looked at TJ’s hand for a second, reading him. Then she moved forward and smelled, the air hitting our hands, before taking a step forward and letting him pet her.

“Oh,” he breathed out, running the tips of his fingers over the slick skin. “It really does feel like leather.”

That made me smile and move my hand back, going over to sit at the base of a tree. It was my regular spot, I did homework here a lot if I couldn’t focus with my friends. The quiet of the forest and the presence of their calmness really did quieten down my hectic brain.

TJ came over to me and sat down, raising his knees and resting his arms on them. “I know why you brought me out here.”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, watching two of the thestrals playing around by nipping at each other then galloping away.

“To have your way with me,” he replied seriously, looking at me with big, innocent green eyes. “I can’t say I object, I’m not opposed to a little dirt.”

My face had to look like a tomato with the way that made me blush. “No! I brought you out here to talk about potions! I swear!”

“I’m just messing with you, Cyrus, chill,” he requested, bumping me with his shoulder. “Uhm, about potions, I have this thing called dyscalculia. It makes numbers jump around and flip upside down and stuff. Maths is impossible for me, arithmancy almost made me have to repeat fourth year.”

I turned to face him fully and asked, “Is that why call yourself stupid? You’re not stupid, you’re really smart from what I can tell. You shouldn’t hide behind Quidditch just because you’re good at it.”

He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. It wasn’t bad, I’m pretty sure he was smiling and his eyes were shining a little. It took me by surprise again how attractive TJ was, his confidence doing the heavy lifting of it. The way he wrapped his arm around my shoulders like it came natural to him and let me hold his hand did nothing to quell the budding feelings inside me. 

Have I mentioned I tend to fall for athletic, heterosexual boys who smiled at me? Never mind when they’re actually friendly towards me, Andi jokes that I start planning the wedding after our second conversation. My nickname was ‘disaster gay’ for a reason.

“Nobody’s ever called me smart before,” he finally told me, still looking at me with that unreadable expression. 

“Slughorn told me today when I gave him our potion that he knew the two of us would work really well together,” I told him, trying to make him not seem so down on himself. “That was his way of saying he thinks we’re both intelligent.”

“Yes, but he likes me for my Quidditch skills,” he shrugged, still refusing to fully accept my compliment. “He likes that I win the games he bets on, meaning he can buy himself more mead.”

“Godric, we have to get you more confidence,” I told him airily, trying to make things less cynical. “What happened to the guy I met the first day? The one who winked at me?"

“Oh, yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?” he asked me, a bit of chagrin in his tone this time. “I also think this is the first time someone said I needed to be more confident.”

“Note that I didn’t say you needed to be more arrogant,” I reminded him, flashing him a pointed look. “Arrogance isn’t attractive.”

He jutted out his lip into a pout, making my palms start sweating. I went to wipe them on my trousers and saw the time.

“It’s almost time for lunch,” I told him, pushing up and offering him my hand. 

He took it and I felt the Quidditch calluses pressed against my skin. I was instantly self-conscious of how soft and smooth my hands were. I’d never done anything to cause them to be any other way. I was the worst bloke in the entire world.

“Bye, guys! I’ll be back,” I told the thestrals, grabbing my bag and walking with TJ back to the castle. “So, what do you think?”

“That I want to take your somewhere after dinner,” he replied mysteriously as we made it to the double doors. 

My voice was shaky when I replied, “O-okay.”

He just smiled at me, a full smile this time that left me standing in the Entrance Hall of the castle. I realized how long his legs were as I watched him lope off. I really needed to get myself together, I couldn’t have a crush on Buffy’s Quidditch rival. I think that broke literally every rule in the mate code book.


	3. Chapter 3

Cyrus' Point of View:

After classes ended, I went to watch Buffy and Jonah’s Quidditch practice. I didn’t really enjoy the sport, but I loved supporting my friends. That meant I brought my arithmancy book with me to read while cheering them on. 

“So, are you going to tell us what’s happening with you and TJ? Because you look at him like he’s more than a potions’ partner,” Andi asked, as she and Walker joined me in the stands. “Because I don’t think it’s going to end very well.”

I sighed and marked my place with my finger before turning to her. “There’s nothing going on with us. We’re friends, that’s it… he’s straight anyway.”

“Oh, no!” Andi sighed, making Walker peek around her.

“So, you’re saying he’s exactly you’re type?” he asked, making me flash him an unamused look. “Just asking.”

“That isn’t funny!” Andi chided, hitting him with the sweater laying across her lap. 

I just looked back out at the pitch instead of at either of them. I could see Buffy zooming around as she headed toward the goal. Jonah hit a bludger surging directly at her, sending it flying away. It was almost scary how well the two of them worked together, it was like they were on the same brainwave or something.

“Can we not mention anything like that to Buffy?” I asked nervously without looking away from the practice. “She doesn’t need the added stress of it. You know she’s already super stressed about stuff because Marty’s on the Hufflepuff team and they’re sort of dating now.”

That wasn’t necessarily a lie, but I knew Andi saw right through it. She was my best friend after all, she knew me really well. I wasn’t going to keep it a secret from her, I just didn’t want to bring it up unprovoked. 

“Yay, Buffy!” Andi shouted when she made another goal. 

“Whoo! Go, Slayer!” I added, making her throw her hand up in our direction along with a smile. “Good hit, Jonah!”

He threw up both hands in a cheer while staying gracefully balanced on his broom in midair. I’d taken flying first year and absolutely hated it. I didn’t like being anywhere with my feet off the ground. It didn’t help that I’d been dreadful, falling off when I was barely hovering. Needless to say, I never tried again or even came close to a broom for anything other than sweeping up at home because I wasn’t seventeen yet and couldn’t use magic outside Hogwarts.

I’d finished reading for arithmancy by the time practice was over. We made our way down the stands slowly, waiting for Buffy and Jonah when we got to the bottom. When they joined us, it was time for dinner and we started making our way inside the castle.

“So, are we all going to the library to do homework after dinner?” Buffy asked, making ice flood my veins. “Cy, what’s up? Are you okay? You look freaked.”

I couldn’t lie to her, so I figured I’d just tell the truth and let the pieces fall where they may. “I’m hanging out with TJ after dinner.”

“Kippen?” Buffy asked in disbelief, flashing her eyes over to me. “Why would you want to hang out with him?”

Because I don’t think he’s a horrible person, I just think he’s lonely and sad. “Because I think he needs a friend.”

“Why does that friend have to be you?” she questioned, obviously annoyed with me. 

I just shrugged and said, “I don’t know, you can never have enough friends. Right?”

“But he’s toxic!” she argued as we continued to the castle. “Why do you want to be his friend? I don’t understand.”

I didn’t answer her because the statement felt rhetorical. Instead, we went inside and parted ways to sit with our Houses. I sat beside Marty and his Quidditch friends. They all nodded in my direction before going back to their conversation about different plays. Iris came in a little later and sat across the table, greeting me happily.

She and I were a thing for two weeks before I realized I was gay. She was my first kiss and we’d remained friends afterwards. I mean, nobody really knows what they’re doing at twelve, right?

“Word around the castle is you’re hanging out with TJ Kippen now?” she asked, putting food onto her plate.

I blanched and looked at her in surprise. “What? Are you serious? We literally met this morning.”

She was grinning and snickered at my outburst. “I’m just kidding! I saw you two walking into the castle together before lunch earlier.”

I relaxed and said, “Oh, that’s good.”

The rest of dinner was spent talking with her about care of magical creatures. The two of us had a fondness for the animals Hagrid showed us. We also had a special place for the cold and scaly ones specifically. 

“I just think Occamies are so cool! They remind me of how chickens are descendants of dinosaurs,” she continued, making me look at her in surprise.

Dinosaurs are a muggle thing that I’m obsessed with. They’re big, lizard-like creatures who roamed the planet millions of years ago. The muggles say a big ashtroid or sashtroid or something like that burned them out. She’d told me about them when we were dating, and I’d instantly become obsessed.

“Chickens are descended from dinosaurs?” I asked in disbelief. “That is so cool! I want to know more.”

Iris told me more about dinosaurs as we continued eating. She and I would’ve made a lot of sense as a couple if I did like girls. I was just grateful she still wanted to be my friend after I lied to her. She enjoyed all the same nerdy stuff I did.

“I don’t know if I ever apologized for lying to you,” I said, cutting her off mid-sentence about how some muggles think dinosaurs made noises like birds instead of roaring. “When we dated, I never apologized for making you think I had feelings for you.”

She flashed me a curious look and replied, “It’s not a big deal. It’s not like you lied to me on purpose or anything. You really thought it was something, I’ve never been mad at you.”

“I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings or anything,” I said, smiling at her reassuringly. “I like having you as a friend, I think we make more sense that way.”

“I didn’t know you two were a thing,” Marty said, joining our conversation. 

“Yeah, it was only a couple days honestly,” Iris told him, sipping her drink. “He was my first kiss.”

“She was mine, too,” I added, smiling at her. “The only girl I’ve ever kissed actually.”

The rest of dinner passed by with conversation moving between all of us. My best friends were all in other houses, but I had friends in my house too. It came in handy during times like this, dinners had to be eaten at our House tables unless it was a holiday. Just because I wasn’t a fan of Quidditch didn’t mean I couldn’t have Quidditch friends.

I’d almost forgot I had plans with TJ until I saw him waiting for me outside the Great Hall. I said goodnight to Iris and Marty before making my way over to him. He instantly wrapped his arm around my shoulders, so we wouldn’t lose each other in the hustle of bodies.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked loudly, hoping he could hear me. 

He only smiled at me playfully, ignoring my question. We went down to the dungeons, following the flow of green and silver ties. He walked through the entryway together, him taking me with him regardless of my yellow and black tie. 

“Uh, Teej, I don’t think I’m allowed in here,” I told him worriedly, biting my lip. “No, I’m sure I’m not allowed in here.”

“Don’t worry about it, nobody’s going to say anything,” he told me confidently. “Just sit on this couch and wait for me. I’ll be back before you can even miss me.”

He flashed me a final smirk before disappearing down a hallway. I awkwardly did what he said and sat on the couch. Every single person who saw me glanced down at my tie and then smirked, going to whisper with their friends. By the time TJ came back, I was sweating and beyond nervous.

“You ready to go?” he asked, moving over to stand in front of me. “Whoa, Cyrus, are you okay?”

He changed from the arrogant, smirky guy to someone who really seemed to be concerned for me in seconds. “Can we just leave?”

I took his offered hand and let him lead us out of the Common Room. When we were alone in the hallway with random kids milling about, he pulled us to a stop by our twined fingers. If I wasn’t having such bad anxiety, I would’ve been bouncing off the walls because of our hands.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked softly, no hard edges to be found. “Are you breathing?”

I nodded and sucked in a hard breath. “Yeah, it just made me really uncomfortable. It felt like everyone was talking about me.”

“Do you want me to go say something?” he asked, trying to calm me down. “I can go handle it, just give me a second.”

He’d turned to leave, but I scrambled back to take his hand. “No, please, don’t do that! Let’s just go do your thing.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked, coming back to stand in front of me with his head lowered. When I nodded, he sighed and said, “Okay, let’s go then.”

I watched my feet and counted the stones as we passed them until I didn’t feel sweaty and dizzy anymore. “Godric, I’m sorry about that. I can’t believe I had a panic attack because some Slytherin laughed and whispered about me.”

“Wow, a shot at my House?” he teased, trying to make things lighter between us. “I thought you were above petty things like that!”

I just looked at him with narrow eyes as we walked out of the castle. “I mean, it wasn’t necessarily a shot at your House as a whole… just the snarky ones.”

“So, me?” he laughed, making me roll my eyes and bump his shoulder with mine. “I also didn’t miss you calling me Teej earlier.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” I told him quickly. “It just slipped out! I was nervous and worried… my basic default setting.”

“Cyrus, relax, I’m just teasing,” he grinned, leading the way outside and toward the Quidditch pitch. “I like it.”

It felt like a slew of pixies were storming around in my stomach at that. He liked when I called him by a nickname? Jonah called all of us nicknames, it wasn’t necessarily romantic -it could just be a platonic thing that he liked it. That didn’t stop the excitement and the flushing of my cheeks.

“Are you taking me to play Quidditch?” I asked uncertainly, eyeing the empty pitch. “I don’t understand the sport at all. I can’t even fly.”

He finally released my hand and showed me the broom he had resting on his shoulder. I was so frazzled when we left the castle that I didn’t even notice he’d brought it with him. Wow, I needed to be more observant.

“That’s why we’re out here,” he explained, holding the broom out for me. “Take it.”

“No, TJ, I can’t ride a broomstick. The only time I was ever on one ended with me falling off,” I told him nervously, holding up my hands to block the wooden stick.

He took my reaction in stride, not lowering the broom. “I won’t let you fall, I promise. Do you trust me?”

I didn’t really know the kid and trust didn’t come easy from me. With that being said, I still saw myself reaching out for his broomstick hesitantly. I straddled it and felt my palms sweating, sliding down the slick handle. 

“Breathe and relax, it’s the easiest thing in the world,” he reassured me, standing right by me. “Bend your knees and push off a little bit.”

“TJ, I’m not sure about this,” I argued, biting my lip. 

“Cyrus, I swear I won’t let you get hurt,” he repeated, his bright green eyes holding mine steadily. “Do what I say, and you’ll love it. I promise!”

I swallowed thickly and bent at my knees, pushing up slowly and feeling my body rise. It was shaky, and I felt my stomach jump to my throat. TJ stayed true to his word, remaining close enough to catch me if things went south.

“See? It’s easy as breathing,” he cried when I’d rose up to about the top of his head slowly. “Underdog!”

I knitted my eyebrows together in confusion as he ducked under the broomstick after he cried out. “What are you doing?!”

“It’s a muggle game kids play on swings,” he explained, coming back over to his original spot. “You push your friend as high as you can get them and then run underneath.”

“Muggle games are weird,” I observed, rising a bit higher and crying out happily when the action was smooth. “Wow! I think I get it now! This is amazing!”

“Do you want to fly around?” he asked, smiling and making it hard to breathe. 

“No, I don’t think I can balance that well,” I argued, slowly lowering myself back down to the ground the way he taught me. 

“Do you want to fly around?” he repeated, still watching me. 

I licked my lips and tried to read his expression. “With you?”

“With me.”

I felt myself nodding and sliding forward for TJ to get on the broom with me. His arms moved and caged me in against his chest as he held the stick this time. We kicked up together and it felt like I left my stomach back on the ground as we rose higher and higher.

“Merlin’s beard! We’re so high!” I called, clenching my thighs tight around the broom and gripping his arms. 

“Just close your eyes and feel it, okay?” he requested softly in my ear. 

I found myself nodding again as my eyes slid shut. We started flying, the wind whipping through my hair and making me feel like a bird. For the first time in my sixteen years, I finally understood why people loved Quidditch so much.

By the time we came back down, I was practically bouncing with happiness. TJ looked over at me and caught me grinning like a loon, making him shake his head goodnaturedly. We sat together on the pitch, leaning back against the stands.

“I brought you here because flying makes me feel quiet,” he explained, the two of us watching the stars together. “I didn’t realize it until you were talking earlier with the thestrals. I come here to clear my head, it helps me stop thinking and just be.”

I didn’t know what to say to not ruin what was happening. Something told me I was one of the only people who had ever seen this side of TJ. He didn’t seem to be the type who willingly made himself vulnerable to people. 

“Thank you,” I told him softly, taking a risk and leaning my head against his shoulder. “This was amazing.”

“No problem,” he told me easily, his head laying back against mine. “No problem at all, underdog.”

Underdog? I liked that far more than I should’ve. 

“Good to know, not-so-stupid-Quidditch-guy,” I quipped back, hopefully soon enough to not arouse suspicion over my growing crush. 

“I think I prefer Teej.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to add other characters from the show to the story and give them interactions with the main characters. I hope it comes across as organic and flows well with the other two chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

TJ’s Point of View:

I got back to the Common Room after dropping Cyrus off by his Common Room, angry with most of my House. I stalked inside and saw people glance over at me before looking away unbothered. My mates were sitting by the fire, so I went over to the group of them and sat beside Reed.

“Which one of you let it slip to the entire House?” I asked in a deadly whisper. “I’m serious, who told people I like Cyrus?”

When none of them said anything, I grunted in frustration and rubbed my eyes. Either they weren’t going to ‘fess up, or I was just incredibly transparent with my crush. It wasn’t public knowledge I was gay, but it wasn’t really a secret either. 

“None of us said anything,” Reed replied, glancing at all the guys around us. “Why would we tell people?”

“Because he was freaking out when we left earlier because people were talking about him,” I explained tersely, still glaring around the Common Room. 

“Maybe because he was very out of place in here,” Lester suggested slowly. “Because, ya know, his family are known as blood traitors among a lot of the kids’ families in this house. He also practically projects a badger above his head he’s so Hufflepuff. I don’t think it had much to do with your thing for him.”

I hadn’t really thought about it that way, I was too focused on what I thought happened. I was a half-blood, my mum was a muggle and my dad was a wizard. It wasn’t shocking to me that people still held old grudges, I got my fair share of glares from people when I was Sorted. Even after the War, old blood purity rang true for a lot of Slytherin families. It surprised a lot of people, me included, when I was placed in the same House as Voldemort... half-blood himself or not.

“I guess that makes sense,” I finally agreed, leaning back against the couch. “I’m just on edge lately.”

“No way, you hid it so well,” Link said, making me glare at him. “You have three emotions: angry, less angry but still glaring, and hungry.”

That made me full on flip him off, even if he was sort of right. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel things, it was more that I just pushed them down until I… just didn’t anymore. It came with the territory of a kid with divorced parents, but I didn’t want to get into that right now -or ever.

“Whatever,” I finally snapped, pushing up from the couch. “I’m going to take my broom upstairs. I have homework to do anyway.”

“Hopefully not arithmancy, that’ll take you ages,” Reed joked, making me wince without turning back around -my friends were kind of dicks.

My mates all knew about my dyscalculia and teased me about it a lot. To keep with my emotionless reputation, I never said anything about it. In my own head and the privacy of my bed with the curtains drawn at night, it bothered me a lot. 

And Cyrus asked why I thought I was stupid.

…

Cyrus waved at me when I walked into the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning. I waved back and started walking toward him until I saw Buffy sitting with her back to me. She turned around to see who he was waving at and glared at me, making me fall into my usual expression -an arrogant sneer.

I turned sharply and went to the Slytherin table without pausing. Buffy Driscoll was the most dramatic person at Hogwarts, I would honestly put money on it. She was convinced that I ‘didn’t play fair’ whenever Gryffindor and Slytherin played each other at Quidditch, but that wasn’t true. I didn’t cheat, I was just a tad more aggressive about winning when we played them. It wasn’t like she didn’t return the actions, I’d been hit by at least two bludgers from her team in one game before and I’m the seeker.

“You look significantly angrier than when I left this morning,” Jackson, a beater on the team, said when I sat down beside him. 

“Not angry, just annoyed,” I replied tensely, putting eggs onto my plate with more force than necessary and making a little bit of them fly.

“Is it because your boy toy is friends with Driscoll?” he asked, making me snap my head over to him. “What? You’re not very good at hiding it.”

I swore and started eating without saying anything. Jackson got the message and started talking to the other guys. Then Cindra sat down with Paisley, completing the team around me.

“So, captain, what’s the plan for practice today?” Reed asked, drawing my attention back to the team. 

“We’re going to run some drills and get the new beaters used to the feel of things. Then we’ll do some plays,” I replied, thankful for somewhere I felt comfortable. “I want us to be perfect this season. The Quidditch Cup is ours this year, I can feel it.”

That seemed to be exactly what they wanted to hear because they exploded in noise. I felt myself genuinely smile, ignoring the twinge of sadness when I remembered what Reed said to me last night. To his credit, I don’t think he knew it bothered me. Keeping everything to myself came with the role of stupid Quidditch guy.

Cyrus’ Point of View:

“You’re really friends with him, aren’t you?” Buffy snapped at me after TJ glared at our table without another glance at me when she turned to look at him. 

I shrugged and studied my toast, watching the marmalade melt on it. “I don’t know, I guess. He’s not the jerk you think he is all the time.”

“That’s doubtful,” she replied as Andi and Walker joined the pair of us. “Question: do you think TJ Kippen is a jerk?”

Andi flashed me a look followed by Walker doing the same thing, making it obvious they knew something Buffy didn’t. She picked up on it immediately and looked almost hurt.

“You really are his friend,” she told me quietly. “You know he almost got me benched when I tutored him fifth year, right? He manipulated me into doing his homework and then ratted me out for it.”

I did. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Then why are you his friend?” she asked, a barely-there tremor in her voice. “I can’t be your friend if you hang out with him. You have to choose.”

It didn’t hesitate, “You, Buffy, always you.”

She seemed satisfied with that answer and went back to her breakfast. Me, on the other hand, I couldn’t seem to stomach the thought of food. I liked TJ, but Buffy was right. He was awful to her and almost ruined her Quidditch career -she planned on going pro after Hogwarts. 

After breakfast was finished, we all headed to transfigurations together with Jonah included this time. He’d been out on the pitch this morning, so I surprised him with a bacon sandwich I’d sneaked out of the Great Hall.

“My guy!” he bellowed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as he bit into the sandwich. “And it’s still warm! I think I’m in love with you! Totally homo.”

“For the love of Dumbledore, stop saying that!” Andi groaned, making me nod in agreement. “You are straight, that is not something you’re allowed to do!”

That made me snort, wrapping my arm around Jonah’s waist. A beat later, the entire group of us were laughing as we walked through the halls together. I glanced over when I saw someone brush past us, recognizing the gelled hair paired with the green and silver tie. 

“I’ll meet you guys in class,” I told them after the laughter subsided. “I need to visit the loo really fast.”

“Do you want me to take your bag?” Jonah asked, mouth full of sandwich.

I handed it to him with a muttered thanks before jogging toward the bathroom. When my friends were out of view, I followed the way TJ headed and saw him still walking through the halls with his head down. I full-on ran toward him this time, catching up faster that way.

“What’s wrong?” I asked breathlessly, ignoring the twinge in my stomach at breaking my promise to Buffy… even if I technically wasn’t -I couldn’t just let him be upset. 

“Nothing, go back to your friends,” he snapped, glaring ahead and continuing on his way outside. 

“I thought you were my friend?” I asked, biting my lip and feeling my brows knit together.

“Does Buffy agree with that?” he asked, stopping suddenly and turning on his heel to look at me. “Because her glare this morning tells me otherwise.”

“You glared at her, too,” I replied helplessly. 

I watched him roll his eyes before he said, “Yeah, I guess I did. See you in potions, Cyrus.”

This time I watched him turn his back to me and shoulder through the door to the castle grounds. With a frown, I turned and headed to class and my friends. I’d just walked in when the bell rang, announcing class was starting.

Headmistress McGonagall flashed me a warning look but said nothing. I sat in my regular spot by Buffy and got out my things to take notes. When the heavy door to the classroom opened, I didn’t have to look back to know who it was. He went outside to avoid me, and I knew it.

“Mr. Kippen, class has started,” the Headmistress told him, her lips in a straight line. “Don’t make this a habit or I will deduct House points.”

“Yes, professor, sorry,” he replied, but I still didn’t turn around -I’d almost forced myself to forget he was in this class.

“I love when he gets reprimanded,” Buffy gloated from beside me. “I can’t wait to beat Slytherin again this year for the Quidditch Cup.”

I made myself smile at her reassuringly before Headmistress McGonagall started class. I was grateful for the distraction, I liked school a lot more than whatever disastrous things were happening in my life right now.

…

“Yo, it feels like you’re moping,” Walker announced, falling into step with me as we walked to herbology together. “Do you want to talk about it? Remember, I have no obligation to tell Buffy anything like Andi and Jonah.”

He wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean I wanted to talk about Buffy behind her back. “I don’t really have anything to say.”

“You don’t look like someone who has nothing to say,” he pressured, continuing to walk close to me in case what I said was super-secret.

“I mean, I thought it was fine to be friends with TJ then Buffy said it wasn’t. Then I tried to talk to him and he basically said we weren’t friends,” I sighed, telling him the truth instead of bottling it up. “Now I just feel confused and upset.”

“Oh, and you have feelings for him so it’s hard,” he agreed, nodding his head. “Maybe you should talk to Buffy about that. I don’t think she’d be so hard about the situation if she knew you fancied his pants off.”

“I do not fancy his pants off!” I hissed quietly, covering Walker’s mouth quickly. “The last thing I want is to be a gay cliché, liking the captain of the hetero parade just because he was friendly to me for three seconds.”

“That’s ridiculous, you’re allowed to like whoever you want,” he argued, his expression serious suddenly. “Your feelings are always valid, man. You know that, right?”

“Thank you,” I replied, smiling at him thankfully. “But it doesn’t matter. Like we said the other day, I just fall for whatever guy smiles at me and gives me attention for an extended period of time.”

“Should I be offended that you never had a crush on me?” he asked when we started walking again.

“Buffy and Andi weren’t enough?” I retorted, laughing genuinely. “You’re not an athlete, that’s a requirement for my affection.”

TJ’s Point of View:

I needed to stop being jealous every time I saw Cyrus with another guy. It was really starting to interfere with my life. Seeing him wrap his arm around Jonah Beck and lean into him while he laughed was almost painful. Then seeing him walk across the grounds with Walker Brodsky, shoulders brushing as they whispered to each other, had me seeing red.

I needed to get rid of some of the tension, so I was thankful for Quidditch practice after class. I could feel myself being ridiculously strict and demanding of the others, but I couldn’t stop it. I even hit a bludger roughly to show the new beaters how to do it the right way when they kept missing. Also, to get out some of my aggression… but whatever, they didn’t need to know that.

“Don’t make me regret putting you on the team!” I seethed, throwing the bat back to the third year. When he continued staring at me, I shouted, “Go protect our chasers!”

I was swearing explicitly in my head, watching from higher up as the practice continued. We were good, but we needed to be fantastic. A flash of red drew my attention and I saw the Gryffindor team walking onto the pitch with Andi, Walker, and Cyrus trailing behind.

I darted to the ground, dismounting gracefully and stomping over to them with my broom gripped in my hand. “What are you doing here? This is a closed, Slytherin practice.”

“The Headmistress gave us permission to use the field today because we have to train our new seeker,” Halston Gaines announced, gesturing to the girl standing beside him. “I have a note and everything, Kippen. So, cease and desist, and give us the pitch.”

I snatched the note from his hand and read it quickly. “I guess it’s for the best, you need to practice a lot harder if you want to win this year.”

“Did you use arithmancy to see that, Kippen?” Buffy sneered at me from Gaines’ side. “That’s the only explanation for how you could be so wrong. You never were good at the subject.”

“Buffy,” Cyrus said from behind the team, making anger course through me along with shame.

“Whatever,” I snapped, turning to look at my team. “We’ll meet back here after dinner! If you’re late, you’re off the team!”

I didn’t wait for them, I stalked off the pitch and slammed my shoulder against Cyrus’ on the way. He stumbled backward into Andi because he was so slight, and I instantly felt guilty but didn’t show it. Instead, I kept stalking off the pitch and went straight to the locker room.

Before I could stop myself, I roared in anger and slammed my fist into one of the lockers. Pain exploded through my hand, but I just ignored it and repeated the action before leaving the locker room to go back into the castle.


	5. Chapter 5

Cyrus’ Point of View:

“Buffy, that was so out of line!” I cried, glaring at her as the other players were warming up in the air. “Why did you do that?”

“Because he’s a jerk and deserved it!” she replied, her mouth a hand line. “Why do you care so much?”

“Because you were his tutor, you knew he has a lot of trouble with numbers. You were just being mean,” I told her, losing the anger in me almost immediately. “I know you trash-talk or whatever, but that wasn’t cool.”

I just turned around and headed back to the castle. “Cyrus, where are you going? Don’t be like that!” 

“I don’t want to be out here right now,” I told her over my shoulder. “Good luck with your new seeker!”

She called after me again, but I kept going until I was inside where it was warm. I hadn’t realized it was so chilly outside until then. I was in street clothes instead of my robes, so I guess it sort of made sense. They could be cumbersome, but they were very warm.

Unfortunately, being on my own instead of with my friends gave me time to think. TJ had slammed into me so hard I nearly hit the ground. Why was he so upset with me? I didn’t do anything during that entire interaction. Unless he thought I told Buffy about his dyscalculia…

That made my stomach ache uncomfortably. I wouldn’t ever tell anybody what he shared with me, it was obviously something he was really insecure over. I knew all about insecurities, I felt them about pretty much every facet of my life.

He and I have only been friends for a couple weeks, but I still wanted to talk to him about what happened. The thought of us never talking again made me really upset. I liked talking with TJ, and I loved that he felt comfortable enough with me to expose secret parts of himself. We were still potions partners, but that was going to feel completely different tomorrow.

…

I got to potions early and set up my station. Professor Slughorn had already told us in the previous class we’d be brewing girding potion all period. With that in mind, I put out all the ingredients we’d need and searched for the direction in my textbook.

Loud laughter drew my attention, and I saw TJ coming in with his Slytherin friends. They all hung out around the desks in the back of the classroom and I felt my heart thump. Maybe he wasn’t going to be my partner anymore. The thought made my eyes burn irrationally, making me look away from the boys and down at my container of fairy wings instead. 

I looked over when I heard the stool scoot across the cobblestone. My hopes were dashed when I realized it wasn’t TJ. 

“What’s up? I’m Reed,” the blonde guy told me, nodding his head in greeting. “TJ and I switched partners today. Is that cool with you?”

“Uh, sure, I guess,” I replied slowly. “I’m Cyrus.”

“Oh, I know who you are, man. Trust,” he grinned, making me instantly nervous. “Are you ready to do this?"

I only nodded, starting the potion. Like I figured, Reed did nothing but watch and give occasional commentary. The potion smelled absolutely foul, filling the entire dungeon with the pungent odor. I tried to breathe as little as possible as I toasted the dragonfly thoraxes.

“So, what’s up with you and TJ?” Reed asked suddenly, sitting down the pair of fairy wings he’d been playing with. 

My entire face flushed red and I hoped I could pass it off as a concentration flush or an effect of being so close to the brewing cauldron. “Nothing, he doesn’t even want to be my potions partner anymore.”

Saying that made me want to choke up, so I focused back on the potion and added the thoraxes instead. The last thing I wanted was to start crying over TJ in front of one of his best friends. That would be so stupid.

Reed went silent after that, allowing me to finish the potion in peace. When it was done, I risked an inhale and nearly vomited. I wanted to tell Reed that we couldn’t be partners again, but I didn’t have it in me to be in anymore confrontations. I’d fought with Buffy yesterday and TJ was ignoring my existence. I honestly just wanted to curl up in my bed and hide from the world. 

“What’s your last name?” I asked after I’d put the potion into the phial. 

“Gregory,” he replied, making me flash my eyes up and see him watching me. “You’re incredibly cute. Did you know that?”

I completely froze, not having the slightest clue how to respond to that. Nobody had ever called me cute other than my mum and Nan. When I opened my mouth, no sound came out. I turned sharp on my heels and practically ran up to Professor Slughorn before I could embarrass myself any further.

“You’re not with Mr. Kippen today?” he asked, frowning when he looked at the phial. “The potion is perfect, but I know you did it on your own. Mr. Gregory doesn’t have talent like this, so I’m docking points.”

I frowned but nodded, that making me want to cry too. I was always the good kid, I did schoolwork perfect every time. Knowing that Professor Slughorn was disappointed with me made me incredibly upset. It honestly felt like the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.

I cleaned up my station quickly and gathered my things before turning to Reed. “I’m sorry, we can’t be partners again.”

After that, I darted out of the dungeons and straight to my Common Room. I crawled inside and went to my bed. I wasn’t hungry, and I didn’t want to deal with anymore people. I wanted to cry in the sanctity of my own bed without having to explain myself, then pull myself together and go to arithmancy.

I dropped my bag by my bed and took off my shoes before burrowing into my covers. I shut my curtain with a wave of my wand and felt the tears start leaking out. With my face pressed to my pillow, I thought about everything at once.

I’d never been in a fight with Buffy before in the fourteen years of our friendship. She and I always got along, even when we had disagreements. That felt like a heavy weight resting on my chest that made it hard to breathe. TJ thinking I would ever break his trust made the weight feel like it was going to crack my ribs. 

I stayed in my bed and cried on and off until lunchtime ended. Then I used the basin of water by the window to wash my face and get a drink. When I’d put myself back together like I planned, I got my bag and made my way to arithmancy. 

I was walking with my head down when I ran into someone. I was nearly knocked over again, making me seriously contemplate some sort of athletic training to be sturdier. When I raised my head to apologize, the words died on my tongue.   
I’d run into TJ.

TJ’s Point of View:

Out of all the people in the world I could’ve ran into, it had to be Cyrus. I’d even switched partners with Reed to put some space between us. Even if it was dumb, it hurt like hell to think he told Buffy my secret.

When I really looked at him, I saw how red his eyes were. The anger evaporated and was replaced when worry when I asked, “Hey, are you okay, underdog?”

He scrubbed his hands over his face, confirming my theory that he’d been crying. “I didn’t say anything to Buffy about what you told me.”

That set me back a little, making me lick my lips anxiously. “Oh, you didn’t?”

He shook his head and said, “I also didn’t mean to say that so abruptly. I know you hate me or whatever, you even made your friend be my potions’ partner. I just wanted you to know the truth.”

What? Cyrus didn’t tell Buffy I was dyscalculic? I immediately felt bad for thinking the worst of him when he really didn’t deserve it. I was so dumb, the thought made me clench my fist where it was hidden in my pocket and flinch when it sent a stab of pain up my arm.

“Are you okay?” Cyrus asked, picking up on my flinch immediately. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I have class,” I said, trying to get past without him knowing about my hand because then I’d have to explain why it was hurt.

“TJ, you’re lying,” he argued, moving to stand in front of me so I couldn’t get past. “Let me see your hand.”

“TJ, you’re lying,” he argued, moving to stand in front of me so I couldn’t get past. “Let me see your hand.”

I flashed him my left hand, flipping it over. “There, are you happy now?”

Instead of answering, he moved us over to the side out of foot traffic and tugged on my right arm. I sighed and pulled my hand from my trouser pocket, letting Cyrus see it. My knuckles looked a lot worse this morning and really hurt.

“Teej!” he gasped, extending my fingers and making me bite my cheek to keep in my grunt of pain. “What’d you do? This looks broken!”

The familiar flutter hit my stomach at his nickname, his fingers moving over the busted skin of my hands was so light that it didn’t help. I’d never been touched so gently before Cyrus.

“I punched a locker,” I told him honestly, leaving out the explanation.

“Merlin’s beard, you tragically toxic heterosexual,” he grumbled, taking my uninjured hand and tugging me down the hallway. “Come with me, your hand is broken. Madam Pomfrey has to fix it before you have permanent damage.”

I allowed him to take me to the infirmary wing, still a little confused over what he said. “Did you just call me a tragically, toxic heterosexual?”

“Yes,” he replied without turning around, too busy navigating the halls to pay attention to me.

“Cyrus, I’m not heterosexual,” I chuckled, twining our fingers to prove a point. “Not even close.”

He came to a full stop in the hall, my chest bumping into his back. I waited for him to turn around and look at me, but he never did. Instead, I heard his breathing change as he stared straight ahead. 

“Oh?” he asked, his voice a bit too breathy to pass as anything but surprised. 

I took a risk and stepped forward, pressing my chest fully to his back. When he released a shaky breath, I felt it against my chest. I tried to not think about how nice it was to have him this close to me.

“Your heart is beating really fast,” he said quietly, the hallways empty now that class had begun.

“Yeah, it happens a lot when I’m around you,” I replied, surprised by how easy it was to be honest with him. 

He reached for my other hand, forgetting it was hurt, and lifted it up to press my palm against his chest. His heart was beating as fast as mine, and I could feel his hands shaking. The moment was too nerve-wracking for me to feel any pain.

“Same,” he replied.

Like he remembered what we were doing, he gently released my injured hand. “This can wait, you need to have your bones mended.”

“You’re cute when you’re worried,” I whispered to him, my breath fluttering the hair by his ear.

“Okay, we need to take you to Madam Pomfrey. You’ve obviously got some sort of Quidditch injury that’s making your brain malfunction,” he said jerkily, walking down the hall again. “That’s the only explanation for what’s happening.”

I just let him think that and followed him to the Infirmary Wing. I decided while we walked that I’d go anywhere if he was holding my hand. We went inside and Cyrus made moves to release my hand, so I gave his a final squeeze before letting go… even if I didn’t want to.

“Kids, what are you doing? You should be in class,” Madam Pomfrey called, hurrying into the room with us. 

When he realized I wasn’t going to speak, Cyrus lifted my hand and pulled the sleeve of my robe back. “TJ hurt his hand. I think it might be broken.”

“Mr. Kippen! I daresay all four of your knuckles are fractured at least!” she cried, taking my hand from Cyrus. “Lay down here while I get some mending solution. That’s all, Mr. Goodman, you may go to class.”

She left to get the solution and Cyrus a note, making nerves settle in the pit of my stomach. I hated mending bones, it always made me nauseous. I’d done it enough times throughout my Quidditch experience to know that.

“Hey, are you okay?” Cyrus asked, sitting in the chair across from my bed. “You’re pale.”

“I’m not a fan of the mending solution. It makes me sick,” I replied, hearing how thick my voice was becoming.

Cyrus left, making my stomach hit my knees. I thought he was leaving for good, but then I felt stupid when he came back with a damp rag. He reached forward hesitantly, dabbing at my forehead.

“It’s okay,” I said softly, closing my eyes.

He wiped the clammy sweat from my brow before moving it to the back of my neck. “A lot of things make me nauseous, I’m pretty good at calming myself down from it.”

This kid couldn’t be real. It wasn’t possible. 

“Is everything okay here?” Madam Pomfrey asked, making me open my eyes and look at her. “Here, Mr. Goodman, give this to Professor Vector.”

Cyrus nodded and made to leave, but I reached out and grabbed his hand before he could. Even if it was childish, I didn’t want to be alone while my bones mended. It hurt and made me sick and I didn’t want to be by myself. 

“I’ll allow it, but only because I know Mr. Goodman is very far ahead of the class in arithmancy,” she announced, pouring me a cup of mending solution. “Bottoms up, Mr. Kippen.”

I winced the entire time I drank the potion, swallowing my retch when it was finished. She took the small glass and left me alone with Cyrus. I felt myself start sweating again right as Cyrus lifted the rag, moving closer to me.

“You should probably move. I can’t promise I won’t blow,” I warned him, a nasty taste gathering in my mouth. “Like, I’m not kidding.”

“Give me a heads up and I’ll dart out of the way,” he replied, obviously ignoring me as he kept wiping my face methodically.

I swallowed thickly and reached up to wipe my chin, making sure I wasn’t drooling. When I was certain I wasn’t going to puke, I started registering the throbbing pain in my hand. Cyrus sat his rag back in the basin of water, seemingly content with staying with me.

Embarrassment coursed through me now that I was back to myself. I’d just made some sort of progress with my feelings for him… maybe… and now I’d probably ruined it all.

“I’m glad you’re not always a jerk,” he told me, smiling reassuringly. “I wouldn’t have been angry with you if you did throw up on me… I would’ve been upset though. I’m not going to lie.”

That made me laugh, taking a bit of my attention away from the pain in my hand. “Thank you for staying.”

He seemed a little distraught before he finally said, “You have to apologize to Buffy for what you did fifth year. I want to be your friend, but I can’t if the two of you hate each other.”

I knew exactly what he was talking about. McGonagall told me if I didn’t get my marks up, I would be benched for the entire season. I agreed to get a tutor and she recommended Buffy, and I agreed because I was desperate to stay on the team.

She’d gotten frustrated because I really was stupid when it came to numbers. It wasn’t even that hard to convince her to do my homework for me in the end. She wanted to be done with the tutoring as much as I did.

“But she’s so dramatic,” I argued, my voice whiny almost. 

Cyrus rolled his eyes, smiling at me and making my stomach hit my knees for an entirely different reason this time. “I want to be your friend, Teej. Buffy’s my best friend and she doesn’t like you. You have to fix that.”

“When you use that nickname, I think I’d do just about anything you wanted,” I told him honestly, the throb in my hand slowly fading. 

Cyrus’ Point of View:

What in Dumbledore’s name was happening right now?


	6. Chapter 6

Cyrus’ Point of View:

TJ and I parted ways after I made sure his hand was fully healed. I made my way to arithmancy and handed Professor Vector my excuse. She simply smiled and continued her lecture on something I’d already read about. Madam Pomfrey was right, I didn’t need to even be in class today. I just enjoyed coming and participating in lecture, learning things from Vector that weren’t necessarily in the text. 

Unfortunately, my mind wandered and ended up on TJ. I’d just read the chapter, so I couldn’t seem to keep my mind on lecture with such big things trying to force their way to the front of my brain. TJ was gay and extremely handsy with me today, even before he was pitiful and sick in the Infirmary Wing.

I wasn’t lying when I said we couldn’t be friends or anything more unless he and Buffy spoke. Him calling me cute and saying I made his heart beat fast nearly had my knees buckling, but I had to hold to my guns. I tried to keep myself together, but I’m sure he saw right through it.

Thinking about TJ liking boys made the crush I’d been developing surge forward really quick. I knew it was there the entire time, but I’d just ignored it in favor of being his friend. Andi and Walker were right when they talked about me having a crush on specific types of boys… and it all started with Jonah Beck. 

He was the first crush I’d ever had. It started when I was twelve and continued up until I was about fourteen, probably. Don’t get me wrong, I was beyond thankful for him and helping me come to terms with being gay. He was even cool with it when I told him about my crush later, nothing changed at all between us… he just didn’t like boys. 

I needed to talk to someone about what was happening with TJ, but I couldn’t talk to my best friend because she hated him. My decision was made by the time arithmancy was over, I was going to talk to Andi about everything. I mean, as long as she promised to not say anything to Buffy before TJ and I talked again.

…

After class, I ventured to Ravenclaw Tower. A third year I didn’t recognize came out and I stopped him, asking if he’d get Andi for me. He nodded happily, hurrying inside before the door even swung shut. 

The two came back outside a few minutes later and the kid smiled at me one last time. I nodded at him, taking Andi’s hand and hurrying away. I wanted to talk with Andi privately, but I wasn’t afraid to go to Walker if she wasn’t comfortable keeping this from Buffy. 

“That guy has a huge crush on you!” Andi grinned, linking arms with me. “You should’ve seen how bouncy he was when he asked me to come with him. Total puppy dog mode!”

I rolled my eyes and replied, “He was probably just starry-eyed because an older kid talked to him. I was when I was a third year, too.”

Andi looked like she was going to argue until she saw my expression. “Oh, dang, this is serious.”

“If I tell you something, can you keep it a secret?” I asked, trying to keep my tone even. 

“I’d never tell anyone anything you told me,” she replied like it was obvious.

“I mean you can’t tell anybody, meaning you can’t tell Buffy yet,” I explained, looking over at her once we sat on a bench together. “I’m going to tell her eventually, I’m just not ready yet.”

“Oh! So, it’s about your crush on TJ?” she questioned, making my eyebrows raise as I covered her mouth. 

“Can you not be so loud?’ I asked desperately. “And yes, it is about that. I have a crush on him and he told me earlier today that he isn’t straight.”

Andi’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “I’ve heard people mention it in passing before, but I didn’t know if it was true.”

“Okay, that’s not the problem at hand. The problem is I want to be his friend,” I told her, chewing on the inside of my mouth. “And I think I want to be more than that maybe, if given the opportunity. Which leads to the actual problem, Buffy hates him. I told him that he needed to apologize to her if we were going to be friends, but she’ll never forgive him.”

“Oh, wow, okay,” Andi replied, her eyes big. “I understand the situation now. You really like him and want to maybe be with him, but you can’t when one of your best friends hate him.”

“So, you see my dilemma now,” I sighed, leaning against the wall behind our bench. “I know why Buffy hates him, and she’s entitled to feel that way. He got her benched for almost three games and she missed out on that scout for the Harpies. For what it’s worth, I really think he’s sorry for it. He looked sorry when I told him he had to do something about their relationship earlier in the Infirmary Wing.”

“Why were the two of you in the Infirmary Wing?” she asked, worry taking over the surprised expression.

“It was for TJ, he hurt his hand,” I replied, figuring he’d want what happened between us to be a secret. “It gave us time to talk about stuff and now I’m just feeling a lot of things at once.”

Andi wrapped her arm around me, pulling me close. “If he said he was going to apologize, maybe you should wait and see if he does. I don’t trust him, but I trust you and your judgement.”

“Meaning I need to talk to TJ and see what he has planned,” I groused, leaning against her side. “Jeez, I never thought I’d see the day my future rested on his shoulders.”

Andi giggled and squeezed my arm, making a bit of relief course through me. 

TJ’s Point of View:

Okay, I needed to apologize to Buffy for being a jerk. That was a task easier said than done, considering I hated admitting I was wrong. Then I remembered how cute Cyrus was and how he’d insisted on being there for me while I was nauseous. Jesus, this kid already had me whipped and we weren’t even together.

I figured the best way to do it was to just go for it. With that in mind, I made my way over to where she sat with her friends for breakfast. It was only her, Cyrus, and Jonah right now -the less witnesses the better honestly. 

Cyrus waved at me, making me steel myself. This was for him, I could do this if it was for him. Buffy turned around and glared, and I forced myself to keep smiling as I went over. I took the empty seat beside Cyrus, hoping it made me braver. I wasn’t a Gryffindor for a reason.

“Why are you here?” Buffy asked, her glare still present.

“I want to apologize for getting you benched when those scouts from the Harpies came,” I said fast before I could talk myself out of it. 

She seemed taken aback by what I said, and it made my stomach drop. Cyrus made it very clear nothing could happen between us if Buffy and I didn’t at least vaguely get along. I wiped my sweaty palms against my trousers, feeling the tension in my shoulders ease when Cyrus reached over to take my hand in both of his. This kid really had no idea what he did to me, I was sure of it.

“Okaaay…” Buffy said slowly. “Why have you suddenly decided to apologize for ruining my life?”

“Buffy,” Cyrus scolded, flashing her a look. “He’s trying, so you need to try, too.”

“I was also going to offer to give you more pitch time,” I forced out even if I didn’t want to. “It’s first come first serve for who gets it, but I know Gaines is in class when McGonagall’s in her office.”

“Are you offering to book the pitch for my team?” she asked in surprise. “Why?”

“Because what I did wasn’t fair. It was all my fault, but I took you down with me,” I replied honestly. 

“Fine, but I’m still a little skeptical of you.”

“That’s fair,” I admitted, Cyrus squeezing my hand happily. “I’ll let you guys get back to your breakfast then.”

I reluctantly released Cyrus’ hands, only for Buffy to speak and surprise the hell out of me. “Or you could stay here. We’re going to Hogsmeade when Andi and Walker come down, you can come with us if you want.”

I found myself nodding, still surprised she was accepting my apology. Then I saw her look at Cyrus, raising her brows like they were having private conversation. When Cyrus’ hand took mine again, he let them rest in my lap this time. I put the pieces together a beat later, Buffy was forgiving me because Cyrus asked her to give it a shot. I couldn’t even begin to understand what that meant, I just knew it was probably good.

Jonah started talking about charms and I started eating with my free hand. It was obvious to anyone looking Cyrus and I were holding hands, but nobody seemed to be. Buffy was arguing with Jonah about who was a better chaser Valmai Morgan or Wilda Griffiths. 

Marty from Hufflepuff came over to sit by Buffy, kissing her head before talking with Cyrus about something badger related. Like he realized I was feeling awkward, Cyrus’ thumb rubbed over the back of my hand reassuringly. 

“Oh, TJ’s sitting with us this morning,” Andi said, coming to the table with Walker’s hand in hers.

He just held out his other hand for me to bang knuckles. “Sup, man?”

I returned the gesture and replied, “What’s up?”

“Yeah, we’re all going to Hogsmeade after breakfast together,” Jonah explained to her. “Also, Andi tell Buffy she’s wrong about Wilda Griffiths being a better chaser than Valmai Morgan!”

Andi seemed a little surprised by the statement, so I decided to step in. “She’s not wrong. Wilda Griffiths was a master, man. Morgan tries to copy moves she did easy and fails usually.”

“Wow, I never thought the day would come that we agreed on something,” Buffy exclaimed, making me nod in agreement. 

“Tell me about it,” I replied, smirking playfully.

“You two are a lot alike honestly,” Cyrus shrugged, making Buffy and I both look at him.

“No, we’re not!”

“No way!”

“Of course, you’re not,” he laughed, his easygoing smile making my heart thunder against my ribs. “Silly me.”

I wanted to kiss him like Marty had kissed Buffy, but I didn’t really have that choice right now. The first step to that had been taken, we were friends and I was good with all his other friends. That was something, right?

Everyone was eating and talking, actually including me in their this time conversations. I realized Cyrus and Jonah were really just friends while I watched them interact. They’d been friends for a long time and just got along well. I was just a crazy jealous idiot… good to know.

“I just remembered totally homo,” Andi said, making Buffy, Jonah, and Cyrus erupt in laughter.

I looked over at Cyrus and saw his face contorted in a laugh, looking incredibly beautiful. Then a snort pushed out and made a real smile find its way to my face. He really had no idea, and I think that was the best part. I watched his cheeks flush in embarrassment at the snorting sound, but I just shook my head and rubbed my thumb over his knuckles this time.

“So, I really can’t say that? I have to only say no homo? Wooooow,” Jonah announced, making me look back over at the others. “That feels heterophobic to me! I’m trying to be an ally, okay.”

“I’m straight, too, but wouldn’t say that,” Walker announced, making Andi nod. “Just saying.”

Jonah seemed playfully annoyed, a weird way to react to what was happening. My friends used all kinds of slurs to talk about me, but I knew they didn’t mean it negatively. They were just straight and ignorant. When I pointed out they shouldn’t say things like that, they ignored me and kept doing it.

“Okay, we should leave before this gets any weirder,” Cyrus said, still smiling along with all the others. We were walking together when he told me, “I would apologize for this morning, but that’s how we always are. Jonah’s just adorably oblivious to everything but means no harm.”

I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and freaked out inside when I felt him wrap his arm around my back. “It’s cool, I like how you guys all get along and stuff.”

“I’m sure your friends are like that with you, too,” he replied, twisting the back of my jacket almost absentmindedly. 

“Uh, not exactly. They’re not mean to me or anything, they just make jokes and say stuff that I wish they wouldn’t sometimes,” I told him, trying to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal.

Cyrus didn’t miss a beat, flashing me a concerned look with big brown eyes. “If they hurt your feelings, why are you still friends with them?”

“It’s different with us. We’re not open and touchy-feely like you guys are,” I tried to explain, feeling a pit start forming in my stomach. “It’s different when you’re a gay athlete. I feel like I have to constantly prove I’m a dude or whatever. I don’t know, it’s probably stupid.”

“Hey, we’ll meet you guys at the that Quidditch store or whatever in a couple minutes!” Cyrus called to the others, the two of us falling further back for a little privacy. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You’re allowed to be whoever you want to be and have zero obligation to prove anything, Teej.”

It wasn’t that simple, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him that. “You’re the best person I’ve ever met, I think.”

When he flushed, I wanted to kiss each of his cheeks. “Stop, I’m just being a good friend. It seems like you need one.”

Bravely, I told him, “Who’d have thought all I needed my whole life was you?”

I was glad he wasn’t near my heart this time because it was thudding like crazy. I felt like I could see it when I looked down at my chest. At this rate, I was going to have a heart attack before our first kiss.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I like to add a lot of angst randomly through stories. This chapter is one of those times. Okay. 
> 
> I also love queer magnetism.

Cyrus’ Point of View:

TJ and I made our way the rest of the way to Hogsmeade, holding hands this time. I don’t think I’d ever held hands with someone and it felt like this. I couldn’t stop smiling, but I tried my best by sucking my lips into my mouth and holding them with my teeth. 

We didn’t really talk about it, we just touched a lot. It was funny when he said he wasn’t touchy-feely with his friends like all of us were. Pretty much since the first time we’d met, he’d always touched me somehow even if it was just a brush of his hand over my shoulder. 

“So, you’re not touchy with other people? Not that it’s a problem, I’m just curious,” I asked, kicking myself when I realized how accusatory it sounded. 

He glanced down at our hands before looking back up at me with an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. “Sorry, it’s hard to control myself when I’m around you. I don’t think I’ve ever been so comfortable with someone before. I’ve told you things nobody else knows, and we haven’t even known each other a month yet…. Well, we haven’t been friends for a month anyway.”

“What does that mean?” I asked as we walked closer to the village. 

“Uhm, it means that I’ve known who you were for a while now,” he answered cryptically. “And not just because you’re Buffy’s best friend.”

We were in the village by now and surrounded by people, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Again, what does that mean?”

“Cyrus! TJ!” Andi shouted from further inside. “Come on, we’re going to Honeyduke’s now!”

“Saved by the Mack,” I told him, giving him a playful glare before jogging toward her and dragging him behind me. “Come on, Teej! Let’s buy some sweets!”

My heart was going ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom hard and fast. It didn’t beat like that when I liked Jonah, this was an entirely new feeling that made me almost dizzy. We joined my friends and I was so relieved at how easily TJ fit with us now that he’d apologized. 

“All I’m saying is we would totally win,” Buffy said, drawing my attention over to her and Jonah. “No doubt in my mind.”

“No way, Cyrus and I would kick your butt!” he argued, making me realize I was involved in this weird argument.

“Prove it!” Andi said, the group of us stopping as she turned to look at Jonah.

“What are we winning / proving?” I asked, holding up my hands to stop the conversation.

“Piggy back race, we’d win,” Jonah replied, slapping his palm against mine. “Easy.”

Andi was on Buffy’s back before I even had enough time to process what was happening. I looked over at TJ and shrugged before getting on Jonah’s back. 

“Go!” Walker shouted, stepping out of the way.

I cried out and held Jonah tighter as he started running through the busy village. Andi was screaming, too, looking over at me with a smile. I knew I was smiling just as big as I held onto Jonah -they were my best friends for a reason. I always felt the most like myself with them, like I didn’t have to be anything or overthink things. 

“Where’s the end of this race?” I called out, apologizing to a group of third years we almost barreled over. “Sorry!”

“The edge of the Hog’s Head!” Buffy replied, breathless and hauling Andi up higher. “And we’re not meeting, you’re following us!”

“Not a chance!” Jonah shouted, surging forward as I reached out and touched the edge of the Hog’s Head a second before Andi. “Hell yeah, Cy-Guy!”

He dropped me to my feet and high-fived me again before wrapping his arm around my shoulders. Buffy was frowning, but I knew it was fake. She and Andi were laughing too hard before to be upset now. TJ, Walker, and Marty joined us a few minutes later and I saw TJ eye Jonah’s arm without saying anything. 

“I know I’m not allowed to say totally homo anymore, but that was incredible!” Jonah shrieked, hitting my chest with his hand lightly. “God, I love you!”

“I didn’t do much other than hold on for dear life,” I replied, shrugging. “And apologize when we almost hit a bunch of third years.”

“But you threw that hand out and hit the Head before Andi,” he argued, refusing to let it drop. “That means it was a team effort.”

“I was promised Honeyduke’s! Stop flirting and come on!” Marty groaned, making my stomach hit my knees. 

Buffy immediately picked up on it and drug him away, Jonah removing his arm from my shoulders with a blush. I wasn’t a violent guy, but I really wanted to give Marty a firm talking to right now. I’d never actually flirted with Jonah because I knew it was pointless, we were just being friends.

I hung back with TJ, trying to gauge what was happening. He’d glanced at Jonah’s arm around me without saying anything, but I could see how closed off his expression was becoming. I moved in front of him and stopped, nervously chewing on the inside of my lip. 

“Are you okay? You look upset,” I asked, anxiously awaiting his response.

“Uh, I’m fine. I just remembered I have to go to a last minute Quidditch practice,” he replied, gesturing over his shoulder to the castle. “Bye, Cyrus.”

“Wait, are you mad at me?” I asked, grabbing his arm as he went to walk away. “I thought we were friends.”

He turned back to look at me and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes this time. “We are, good friends. Bye, Cyrus.”

I stood and watched him leave, totally dumbfounded. Things were good, I was amazed by how easily everything was happening. Then he got upset over something, I think over Jonah maybe. But friends didn’t get upset over other friends hanging out, which we were friends. Just because he was gay, and I was gay didn’t mean we were going to be together. 

He and I were friends, he just told me that. Why did it feel like ice was slowly encasing my heart as my eyes started burning? I couldn’t just go back to the castle; my friends would be too worried. I had to suck it up and go hang out with them, and I had to do it without Buffy finding out. The last thing I wanted was for her to hex TJ.

I took a deep breath and wiped my face before going to Honeyduke’s to meet my friends. Andi and Buffy were waiting for me outside, looking relieved when I came up to them. I forced myself to smile and link arms with them, leading the way into the shop. 

“Marty didn’t mean to make things weird,” Buffy told me. “He was just being him, he doesn’t know about the Jonah thing.”

“It’s not a thing anymore, it hasn’t been for a while. You guys know that,” I explained with a shrug. 

“What happened to TJ?” Walker asked when we rejoined the boys.

“He had to go to a last-minute practice,” I replied, hopefully breezily. “You know how Quidditch players are, they can’t do anything for long if it doesn’t involve a broomstick in the sky.”

He nodded in agreement and took Andi’s hand, leading the way to some different sweets. Buffy flashed me a final smile, knowing something more was happening than I’d told any of them. I was just thankful she didn’t as me about it in front of all these people, I would probably tell her and Andi about it when we got back tonight. 

“I didn’t know TJ was your boyfriend or I wouldn’t have asked you to do that,” Jonah told me awkwardly, shuffling his feet with his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry about ruining your date.”

I shook my head and replied, “He’s not my boyfriend and today wasn’t a date. There’s nothing to be sorry about, we’re friends. We’re allowed to do stuff like that, Jonah. Don’t worry about it.”

“No, I guess Marty was sort of right. I think I was kind of flirting with you,” he admitted, flashing his eyes up to me quickly before looking away. 

That confused me beyond belief, making my jaw drop a little bit. “What? You were flirting with me? Why?”

He sighed and finally looked me in the face. “I don’t know, I think I do it more than I mean to. I’m just sort of confused about how I feel… ya know, romantically about guys and people other than girls.”  
Oh, was Jonah coming out to me? Is that what was happening right now? 

“That’s awesome, you don’t have to know right now. Experiment and figure it out,” I shrugged, putting my hand on his shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly. “Thanks for telling me, it’s cool.”

I was about to go find the others when he pushed forward and touched his lips to mine. My eyes were huge in surprise as I realized what was happening. He pulled back a couple seconds later and opened his eyes to look at me like he was surprised to.

“Uh, when I said experiment, I didn’t mean kiss me in the middle of Honeyduke’s,” I told him, my voice still shocked as I looked at him with my brows raised. “But, like, how did you feel?”

“Good, I think it was good,” he replied, seemingly surprised with himself. “I just had to do it before I lost my nerve. Sorry you were sort of my Guinea pig, you’re just someone I know, and I feel comfortable around you.”

“If you’d been a year or so earlier, I would’ve been over the moon,” I reassured him, finally coming back to myself and realizing how funny this was. “That’s so funny, wow. Not funny for you because your feelings aren’t a joke, funny because life is crazy and makes zero sense.”

“Wow, I guess you’re right,” he agreed, laughing along with me a little bit. “Let’s go get you more chocolate frogs, man.”

I just nodded, a little bit dazed still. “Yeah, that sounds good. Then I have to go grab some potions’ ingredients.”

“I’ll come with,” he agreed, going with me over to the stand I was looking for. “Did you really have a crush on me? Like, I know you told me a while ago, but I’m curious.”

“You were the reason I realized I was gay in general,” I replied, figuring honesty was the only fair option right now. 

“Uh, same, I think,” he said unsurely. “Except, I’m not gay or straight and bi doesn’t really feel right either. I don’t know, I’m just not straight.”

“Cool. Is that why you kissed Cyrus just now in front of half of Hogwarts?” Walker asked as he and Andi joined the two of us.

Jonah let out a laughing breath and nodded. “Yeah, it is.”

“Sorry, mate, I didn’t mean to out you or anything. I was just joking around,” Marty told the him when he and Buffy found the group of us.

Jonah just shook his head and replied, “No, it’s cool. I’m not upset or anything, I just kind of needed that final push.”

“Welcome to the gay parade, it’s pretty fun here around June,” Andi said, giving Jonah a high five. “As long as this isn’t just a ploy so you can say totally homo and not be offensive.”

Andi was pansexual, Buffy was bisexual, and I was gay. With Jonah joining us now, our original friend group was really a pride parade now. Her tacking on the last part made me snort and Jonah roll his eyes, everything falling into place like always.

“Gay magnetism is real,” Buffy announced as we went to checkout. “Take that, science.”

I snorted and fell into step with Andi, feeling immensely better than I did when I came inside. My heart was still kind of broken from TJ obviously lying to me and then leaving, but things apparently happened like they were supposed to. Jonah just taught me that.

…

I was sitting in the hallway after dinner ended with Andi and Walker. He was sketching the two of us for a class, her leaning back against my chest while I straddled the bench with my own back against the stone wall. We were the only two free right now with Marty in detention for something he wouldn’t tell us and the other two were at Quidditch practice. 

“Thanks for helping me with this. I forgot it was due tomorrow,” he told us, not looking up from the sketchbook in front of him. 

“It’s cool, I didn’t want time to myself anyway. That would mean I could think and that’s dangerous,” I replied, sitting my hands on Andi’s stomach as she relaxed a little more against me. 

“He was jealous of Jonah because he likes you!” Andi exclaimed. “I’m sure he’s about to explode now.”

“Whoa, I bet you’re right,” I agreed, sarcasm obvious in my voice. “I didn’t even think about that.”

“Let him deal with it. Maybe it’ll make him tell you he fancies the pants right off you in return,” Walker grinned, making me actually roll my eyes again. 

“By Dumbledore, you are so ridiculous!” I sighed. “Nobody fancies anybody’s pants off!”

“Pants fancier, 5 o’clock!” Walker whispered, looking behind me and Andi. “And he’s coming right at us! Andi, let’s go watch from further down the hall.”

“You two are made for each other,” I hissed. “You’re both awful people!”

I turned around to see TJ coming down the hall, an almost glare on his face. My stomach turned inside out, and my good mood immediately evaporated. So much for avoiding this until it just went away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter was such a cliffhanger, I thought I'd go ahead and post the next one for y'all.

TJ’s Point of View:

I was angry, beyond angry honestly. I really thought Cyrus and I were on the same page when it came to our feelings. Like we were just dancing around until one of us broke down and made an actual move or something. 

I knew deep down I was mad at myself the most for being so open with him. There was a reason I didn’t tell people anything about me. Nobody ever really cared, Cyrus pretty much showed me that. 

“Why the hell did you hold my hand and wrap your arm around me when you like Jonah?” I asked in a tense whisper. 

Cyrus looked surprised for a beat and then an uncharacteristic angry expression took over. “Not that it’s any of your business considering the only time you want to talk about your feelings is when you’re angry, but Jonah is one of my best friends.”

“So, you just let all your friends make out with you in Hogsmeade then?” I snapped, hating how angry I was and how impossible it was to not be angry. 

“If I want to,” he replied, still angry and seemingly getting even angrier. 

“Whatever,” I pretty much growled, trying to leave.

“So, you just let all your friends make out with you in Hogsmeade then?” I snapped, hating how angry I was and how impossible it was to not be angry. 

“If I want to,” he replied, still angry and seemingly getting even angrier. 

“Whatever,” I pretty much growled, trying to leave.

“No, you don’t get to come lecture me about something ridiculous and then leave,” he argued, following me closely until we were alone in the dungeons. “Why are you being so weird today? I thought we were friends and then you just bailed! Why can’t you just tell me what happened?”

I didn’t want to tell him the answer to that, it’s why I tried to get away. “I don’t want to talk about it!”

“TJ! What’s going on?” he pressed, refusing to let things go. “I thought you held my hand because it was just a thing to do, I didn’t think there was anything attached.”

Oh, wow, he didn’t have feelings for me at all. As if my feelings weren’t hurt enough already, that felt like a literal knife to the chest. And worst of all, I felt tears gathering in my eyes from the realization.

“I’m sorry I thought it meant something when it didn’t,” I said, my voice breaking and betraying how I was feeling. “I have to go.”

“TJ! Wait! Please, don’t just walk away,” Cyrus called. “If you’re feeling something, you need to tell me! I can’t read a thing about you when you’re closed off like this.”

“I don’t want to talk about my feelings!” I shouted back at him, whirling around in time to see him wince from my shout. 

“Then I don’t know how to fix this, and I really want to,” he replied quietly, shrinking in front of me. “I like being around you, Teej.”

I rubbed my hands over my face and told him, “Cyrus, I like everything about you. You’re kind and understanding and so bloody smart it’s crazy. You want to see past the walls I put up and refuse to let me get away with being closed off. I’ve never met anyone like you!”

He was looking at me like he still didn’t understand, but I didn’t want to make myself anymore vulnerable. All I could think about was him holding my hand and cuddling into me while we looked at the stars then going and kissing Jonah. 

I watched him mull over what I told him before coming over to me. He was close enough for me to smell the scent of his cologne, something clean and citrusy. I had no doubt the smell would be in the Amortentia I brewed later this year. 

“TJ, you’re so much more than you give yourself credit for. You’re smart and understanding and the best listener I’ve ever met,” he told me, eyes sparkling like stars. “You know the second I need reassurance, even if it’s only a squeeze to my shoulder. You just know.”

“You say things like that and share parts of yourself with me, then you go and kiss Jonah. I just want to know where I stand with you,” I finally said, figuring I’d put it all on the table. “Because I thought we were working toward a relationship.”

I watched Cyrus’ jaw drop when I finished talking, making nerves gather in my stomach. I couldn’t tell if it was a good reaction or a bad one. That made me incredibly nervous -I hated leaving my fate in the hands of other people. The only thing keeping me from a complete, self-destructive meltdown was that Cyrus’ hands were the ones who held it.

“I didn’t kiss Jonah, he kissed me and I just stood there in shock. It was honestly the last thing I expected,” he said, anxiously licking his lips. “I would tell you more, but it’s not my story to tell. Just know that I haven’t had feelings for him for at least a year if not longer. I wanted to spend today with you.”

A small flutter of hope blossomed in my chest at that. “Yeah?”

“Godric, yes!” he exclaimed almost in exasperation. “Do you know how long Jonah and Buffy have been trying to get me onto a broom? They’ve begged me for YEARS, but I just did it for you because you smiled at me! I’m scared of a lot of things, yet I feel so much braver when I’m with you!”

“I make you feel brave?” I asked, melting for him like always. 

He hit my chest with a clenched fist softly. “Yes! By Dumbledore, I’ve got a huge crush on you! I have since you sat with me that first day, I think. I just convinced myself all the things you do for me and with me are friendly. Then you got jealous, but I just ignored it and explained it away in my head.”

Swallowing my nerves, I stepped forward and cradled his face between my hands gently. “God, you are so adorable.”

My thumbs were rubbing over his warm cheeks when he squeaked out, “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes, please!” I told him almost desperately. 

I leaned down a bit as he surged up, making us bang our mouths together messily. His tooth dug into my lip and our noses mashed, making us both laugh nervously. 

“Try again?” I suggested, moving a hand back a little to run my index finger over the shell of his ear softly. “Please, try again.”

He nodded, standing up on his toes and leaning to one side. I went the other way and leaned down into him, pressing my lips to his. He gripped the sides of my hoodie in both his hands, smiling against my mouth. 

We parted, and he looked up at me with his eyes sparkling like crazy this time. “That’ll definitely be on the list of possible Patronus memories, Underdog.”

“Who’d have thought you’d be so corny?” he asked, tucking himself under my chin with his arms around my waist. 

“You bring it out in me,” I replied, carding my fingers back in his hair with one hand while I wrapped my other arm around his waist. 

He only laughed and pressed a soft kiss to the side of my neck. “I like soft TJ. I think he’s my favorite.”

“Well, I didn’t know he existed until you brought him out,” I replied easily, my fingers tracing over the back of his neck this time. “I know you hate my Common Room, so do you want to go back to yours?”

He nodded, moving a hand around his back to twine his fingers with mine. Reluctantly, I released him and followed close behind. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and bury my nose in his hair, but I refrained until there were fewer eyes watching us. 

We made it to the barrels outside the kitchens and Cyrus released my hand to bend down. He knocked a rhythm against them, making them open to reveal a tunnel.

“You have to crawl inside,” he explained, getting on his hands and knees. “If your Slytherin-ness will let you.”

“You’ve got to stop taking shots at my House,” I teased, following close behind him. “Are other badgers as mean as you?”

“Isn’t there a muggle mee-mee about honey badgers?” he asked, my laugh echoing around the tunnel. “What?”

“It’s a meme, but you’re adorable,” I replied, unable to stop myself from smiling at him. “Also, yes it exists and taught me badgers are terrifying.”

Cyrus stood up a bit later and offered me his hand, pulling me to my feet. “Right, don’t forget that.”

He made his way over to a loveseat and sat down, using my hand to get me beside him. I did one better and wrapped my arm around him. Whatever reservations he’d had before were gone now, turning to wrap his arm around my stomach and snuggling into me easily.

“You smell so good,” he told me quietly, his lips brushing the corner of my jaw. 

“I was thinking the same thing about you earlier,” I replied, tracing the shell of his ear again. “I’m so glad I can do this now.”

“Have you thought about it a lot?” he asked innocently, taking my hand and running his index finger over the length of mine. 

“I think I’ve had a crush on you for almost two years now if we’re being honest,” I told him without fear for once. “Then I braved up enough to be your partner and developed a full-blown thing for you.”

“Why’d you punch that locker?” he asked, his finger pausing on their path to sit on one of my knuckles. 

I sighed and replied, “I thought you told Buffy about my dyscalculia. I felt stupid for telling you something so private. Now I just feel dumb because she obviously knows I suck at anything to do with numbers. I was just so cagey all the time because I knew I liked you and was coming to terms with only being your friend. Anything would’ve set me off, I think.”

“We need to work on how you deal with your emotions,” Cyrus mused, pinching my hand teasingly. “Have you tried crying? It’s very cathartic.”

“Did I make you cry?” I asked, glancing down at him. 

I watched his swallow and avert his eyes, telling me more than words could. “Uh, technically, I cried about a lot of things. Buffy and I got into an argument over what she said to you. Then you avoided me and Slughorn docked points from my potion because Reed didn’t help me. It all piled up and I cried.”

“You were crying before you took me to the Infirmary Wing?” I asked, leaning back against the arm of the loveseat to look at him more. “You were crying because I was an ass, but you still helped take care of me. I swear to Merlin, you are too good for me.”

Just when I thought he couldn’t get more adorable, his lip jutted out into a pout. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my throat in response. Because I was allowed to now, I reached up and rubbed my thumb under the jut of his bottom lip.

“I am not too good for you,” he huffed, melting into my touch and making my heart pound harder than ever before. “Stop being so down on yourself, Teej. I like you for everything you are and everything you think you’re not.”

Millions of snitches soared through me at him saying he liked me so easily. “I’ll work on it if you promise to do the same.”

Even if he didn’t mention it a lot, I knew he was so insecure about almost everything. “Deal.”

We just sat together for a while after that, people coming into the Common Room and glancing over at us. Instead of immediately whispering, they all smiled and greeted the two of us as they passed. Hufflepuff was really the nicest house.

“Slytherin and Hufflepuff are quite the combination,” I mused, my fingers playing in his curls where his head laid against my chest. “Would it be too much too soon to ask you to wear my practice kit to the Hufflepuff/Slytherin game next Saturday?”

He pushed up with his hand on my chest and looked at me with big eyes, going from adorable to beautiful within seconds. “No way, I would love to wear whatever a practice kit is!”

That made me smile and explain, “It’s a jersey. It has my last name and number on the back and is in Slytherin colors.”

“So, you’re cool with being that public?” he asked, messing with the string of my hoodie instead of looking me in the face.

“If it’s with you, I’m cool with anything,” I replied quietly. “But I want to keep that soft thing you mentioned just between us.”

“I got you, you want to stay the cool Quidditch guy to everybody else,” he nodded, making an expression that had me laughing. “What? I’m being serious!"

I just shook my head and kissed his hair, laying back against the arm of the loveseat again. I’d have to leave soon to get to the dungeons before curfew, but I didn’t want to think about that right now. I just wanted to focus on the weight of Cyrus’ head on my chest and the way he played with my fingers.

It was worth the weight and everything we went through to get here. Bet.


	9. Chapter 9

Cyrus’ Point of View:

“Here you go, underdog,” TJ said Friday morning in potions. “I don’t want to forget it.”

He handed me the ‘practice kit’ he’d been talking about on Saturday. I held it in my hands and looked at it, seeing his name in bold letters across the back. The thought of wearing something with his name on it made a wave of giddiness course through me.

“Wow, okay, this is happening,” I exclaimed dorkily. 

I watched him laugh and ruffle my hair playfully before sitting on his stool. Slughorn walked into the room and smiled when he saw the two of us working together again. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything because I might have blushed so hard I exploded on the spot. 

“Today’s class is going to be the beginning of our lesson on Amortentia,” he announced, clasping his hands around his belly. “Who can tell me what that is?”

Nobody raised their hand, so I held up mine. “Ah, Mr. Goodman?"

“It’s the most powerful love potion in the world,” I answered, making Slughorn smile. 

“Right you are, five points to Hufflepuff,” he replied jollily. “It is also one of the most dangerous potions in the world. There’s little a man won’t do whenever he’s in love, even if it’s artificially constructed.”

Even if I didn’t consciously do it, I glanced over at TJ out of the corner of my eye. He was already looking at me and blushed a little as he winked. I scrunched up my nose and made a face, reaching over to sit my hand on his knee under the table boldly. 

Class continued normally, me taking notes and just being content for the first time in a while. TJ was doing the same thing, his fingers twisting and untwisting with mine under the tabletop. I couldn’t tell you a thing Slughorn said, so I was glad I’d wrote it all down.

When it was finished, I tucked my notes into my bag and put it on my shoulder. TJ took my hand and we made our way to the Great Hall together. I was going to ask if he wanted to sit with his friends when he led the way over to the Hufflepuff table. He and I held hands a lot, so nobody seemed too surprised by it today… but they did watch him sit beside me.

“This is weird,” Buffy said, sitting across from us a couple seconds later with Marty in tow. 

“Hey, good luck tomorrow, mate,” TJ said, extending his hand to Marty after he’d sat down and ignoring Buffy’s statement. 

“Yeah, you too,” he replied, shaking it with only a little surprise.

TJ really seemed to be trying, the thought making warmth fill me. I poured myself some pumpkin juice and greeted Walker as he came to the table with Andi. My cheeks flushed a little and my spine straightened a hair when TJ sat his hand on my leg under the table. 

“So, this is really a thing now? You’re dating?” Buffy asked, eyeing us both skeptically. 

I nodded and swallowed the chips I’d been chewing. “Yeah, I think it’s pretty real.”

TJ only snorted and kissed the side of my head before going back to his own lunch. That seemed to answer her question, Marty flashing her a look to finish it off. The two of them made sense together, I realized. They balanced each other out with their competitiveness -Buffy was cut-throat while Marty was playfully competitive. 

Andi told the group of us about an art expo she was competing in over the next couple weeks. She’d sent her pieces home to Bex and she was going to submit them for her. Andi was awesome and could literally make anything out of anything she got her hands on. It was incredibly impressive considering the only thing I was good at was schoolwork.

“What’s the competition?” I asked between bites of sandwich.

“It’s something that shaped you,” she replied. “I used the bracelets Bex and I wore home from the hospital and one of the sudoku games I did with Cece. Then I used copies of my passport from the trips I’ve taken with Ham. For Bowie I used different pressed flowers from the plants we grew together last summer. I used different muggle pictures with you, Buffy, Jonah, and Walker to top it all off. I’m really proud of it.”

“That’s so cool!” I exclaimed. “I would love to see it.”

“Who sends you home with bracelets after you’re born? Your wrist is too small for that,” Marty questioned, making TJ and Buffy snicker. “What? I’m sorry I don’t know about muggle infant fashion.”

“It’s not an accessory, love. It’s something they give to babies and their mums, so they don’t get separated while in the hospital,” Buffy answered fondly, looking at him with a grin I didn’t recognize. “It’s like the little tag Healers put on us with their wands after we’re born.”

Andi was the confused one this time. “Healers tag babies with their wands after they’re born. It’s usually a color with the first letter of your last name in the middle. They tap the baby before they leave and remove the mark.”

TJ looked over at me, an unreadable expression on his face. He stroked his thumb over the top of my hand reassuringly before going back to his lunch. There’s no way I was going to survive this relationship, I was going to explode with happiness at any second and I knew it.

...

The day of the game came around, and my entire House glared at me when they saw the shirt I was wearing. Instead of worrying, I went to the Gryffindor table to sit with Andi and Jonah. I saw him talking before I got to them and knew it was about all the plays that could be used by Slytherin -I could tell by the look on Andi’s face.

“Cyrus! I can’t believe you’re wearing a Slytherin kit!” he exclaimed after I sat down, pausing his Quidditch plays. 

“Why?” I asked, getting myself oatmeal with cinnamon on top. “It’s TJ’s.”

“Because you’re a Hufflepuff, man! What about House pride?” Marty cried as he sat down with the group of us. “What about badger spirit?”

That made me laugh and shrug, but Buffy answered for me. “I think that ship sailed a long time ago. He’s team TJ over everything.”

“Did she find out about the broom thing, underdog?” TJ asked, sitting beside me and kissing me softly. He softened a little when I met his eyes and said, “Hi, how’d you sleep?”

“Good after I finished my arithmancy essay,” I replied, smiling at him. “How about you? I remember you saying you never slept well before a game.”

He’d actually told me he was always incredibly anxious before a game, but that wasn’t someone I was going to share. That was a part of soft TJ, and I liked keeping him a secret.

“It was alright, I’m just excited to play,” he replied. “The first game is always my favorite.”

The group of us talked the majority of breakfast before it was time for TJ and Marty to leave. Without thinking, I stood up with TJ and hugged him tight. Then I stood on my toes and kissed him.

“For good luck,” I said breathlessly after I returned to flat feet.

His hand sat on my hip and his eyes were glossy when he replied, “Yeah, for sure. I think I might need that before every game.”

“If you win, I’ll think about it,” I told him, hopefully flirting successfully. “I’ll see you later.”

He nodded and headed out, joining his team at the door. They jostled and teased him by the look of things, but I couldn’t stop smiling. This was an amazing feeling, one that made me understand why he’d said our first kiss was a possible Patronus memory.

“Let’s go before lover-boy floats off into the clouds,” Andi teased, the group of us standing up and heading to the stands. 

“The Hufflepuff scarf is a nice touch, very inclusive,” Buffy told me from her place between me and Andi. “But you’re still supporting Slytherin.”

“No,” I argued, heading outside and pulling my jacket tighter around me as the cold air nipped underneath it. “I’m supporting my… TJ. There’s a difference.”

“Ah, so you two haven’t talked about being boyfriends?” Walker asked from the other side of Andi.

“No, not exactly,” I sighed, reaching the stands by now and climbing up. “I don’t even know if we would’ve admitted our feelings if he didn’t get jealous of Jonah then mad at me for kissing him.”

“But you didn’t kiss me or do anything at all to make me think you liked me,” Jonah argued, looking over at me with big eyes. “Do you want me to explain that to him?”

I shook my head and sat down on the bleachers, soaking up the sun hitting my back. “No, we’re past that now. We just haven’t really talked about being boyfriends or anything. We’ve barely talked about a date.”

“He wanted you to wear his kit, that means he wants to be public,” Andi reassured me. “I think it’s safe to call him your boyfriend.”

Even if it was dumb, my mind ran away with me. Why would someone like TJ want to be with someone like me? He was beautiful and athletic and incredibly charming when he wanted to be. I was boring and dorky and completely unremarkable by comparison. All my self-doubt was manifesting when the crowd started roaring around me.

The Slytherin team was soaring through the crowd and I immediately searched for TJ. He was floating a little above the others, a cocky smirk on his face as he looked through the crowd. I didn’t miss the sign across the pitch from me that said ‘We love TJ!’ being held by a group of third year boys. That made him snicker and nod in their direction, then he found me in the Hufflepuff stands and smiled that gooey smile that twisted my insides. I forgot about the sign and the boys watching him and my insecurities, I just remembered how it felt when he kissed me instead.

I waved happily at him and could’ve sworn I saw him cheeks turn a little pink. It could’ve been the wind whipping around him, growing worse as time progressed. Worry swirled a little in my stomach for TJ’s stability while in the air.

The game started soon, and TJ shook Lyle Gilligan’s hand before they separated. The balls were released, and everything became hectic immediately. I didn’t care about the game, I cared about TJ. With that in mind, I watched him up in the air above everybody else. 

Hufflepuff was never aggressive when we played Quidditch, we just used skill. Slytherin, on the other hand, were always aggressive both on the pitch and in general. It was obvious TJ told them not to be overly rough today. 

“Oh, there’s the Snitch!” Buffy cried, pointing to a faint glittering in the sky. “And Fiona’s already seen it! She’s going for it…”

“Right after TJ!” I tagged on, jumping to my feet when I saw the two of them racing after each other and the Snitch.

They rose higher and higher and the Snitch flew from them. The wind was still whipping around, and I could see some of the players getting jostled around by it. I looked back up at TJ and Fiona, only to see the wind was harsher up there.

“Is this safe?” I asked, clutching Andi’s hand tight as I watched TJ struggle to say on his broom. 

“If Hooch or McGonagall haven’t called it off, then I’m sure it’s fine,” Buffy replied, not even looking at the seekers in the sky. 

The two of them suddenly darted down to the ground as the Snitch changed paths. Fiona was ahead as they went straight to the hardpacked earth below them. At the last minute, she stopped and steered her broom up. The motion knocked off TJ’s balance, making him somersault forward off his broom.

I gasped and watched with bated breath as he pushed up from the ground. He lifted a fist with the Snitch in it and everybody started cheering. That was the last thing on my mind as I ran down to the Pitch, ignoring the cheers of Slytherin as they celebrated their win in favor of getting to TJ.

I was on the Pitch and rushing over, seeing the unnatural angle of his arm before I got there. “TJ!”

He looked up and I could see the sickly green color tinting his cheeks. I hurried over as his teammates hefted him to his feet. I got to him and reached out taking his face in my hands to make sure his arm was the only thing hurt.

“Are you okay?” I asked, moving from his face to look at everything else. “Other than your arm, I mean. Is anything else hurt?”

“Mr. Kippen!” Headmistress McGonagall called, hurrying over to the two of us. “Ah, Mr. Goodman, see that he makes it to the Infirmary Wing. And congratulations.”

“Thank you, Headmistress,” TJ replied, walking with me inside the castle. “I really don’t want to get this mended.”

I reached for his good arm and lifted his hand, kissing it softly. “It’s okay, I’m going to be there with you.”

He whined under his breath but nodded, struggling to hold his broom and walk. I reached for it and handled it awkwardly until it wasn’t interfering. Apparently, I was better at being un-clumsy when I had to take care of someone.

We were inside the castle at this point, going straight to Madame Pomfrey. She tutted under her breath when she saw TJ’s arm and pointed to a bed. I laid his broom on the floor before sitting in the chair by him.

“It really looks bad, doesn’t it?” he asked, making me finally look at his arm up close.

“Oh, yeah, no,” I told him breathily, feeling myself go a bit dizzy at the bent limb. “I’m not going to look at it because I can’t pass out right now.”

“You know how to do this by now, Mr. Kippen,” Madame Pomfrey said, coming over to him with the bottle in her hand. 

He grumbled and frowned but did as she requested, and I was ready with the damp rag when she left. I also noticed she didn’t say anything about me being here this time, knowing it was useless right now.

I wiped TJ’s face and sat on the edge of his bed this time. I was wiping the back of his neck when he laid his forehead against my shoulder. I brought my free hand up to run through his hair, an intimate gesture that had fairies buzzing in my stomach. 

“Thank you,” he whispered softly.

I didn’t reply, I just dropped a gentle kiss to his head. I continued doting on him and cuddling him until his arm was mended fully. When he lifted his head from my shoulder, he was smiling at me softly with his eyes glowing.

“You are something else, Cyrus Goodman,” he praised, reaching up to cradle my cheek in his gloved hand. “Something else entirely.”

I just shook my head and pulled back to check his arm. “Not really, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He laughed humorlessly, making me frown and look back at his face. “I’ve broken a bunch of bones before, Quidditch is aggressive and so am I. Nobody’s ever cared that much before you. You have to learn to accept how amazing I think you are, underdog.”

My cheeks flushed, and I was at a loss for words. Madame Pomfrey dismissed the two of us little later and TJ’s hand found mine. 

“I don’t want to go back to my Common Room right now,” TJ told me as we walked through the halls. 

“You don’t want to be praised for being a Quidditch god?” I asked in disbelief. “That’s not very TJ Kippen of you.”

“All that attention and stuff gets a little suffocating sometimes, especially after getting a bone mended,” he replied shyly, looking at his feet. “I don’t want to be around people right now.”

I nodded, understanding that on a deep level. “I have anxiety attacks sometimes when I get really overwhelmed. Do you?”

“Uh, can we go somewhere more private?” he asked, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. 

“Where?” I asked, rubbing my thumb over his knuckles soothingly. 

I watched him lick his lips before looking at me fully, pulling us to a stop. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” I replied without hesitation. 

That made him grin happily and lead the way to a hallway I’d never been to before. Where was he taking me?


	10. Chapter 10

TJ’s Point of View:

I lead Cyrus to the place I hid when everything was too much. He looked confused when we stopped in front of a blank wall but didn’t say anything. Reluctantly, I released his hand and paced in front of it. 

“Oh, wow, this castle is always surprising me!” he exclaimed when the door appeared in the center of the wall. “How’d you find this place?”

Wow, why did he have to ask questions that would make me sound dumb? And the kicker was he didn’t even realize he did it. I wanted to be honest with him, I wanted to keep things open without ruining everything… but I was so afraid I couldn’t. 

I opened the door and gestured for Cyrus to go ahead, following behind. Once we were inside, I told him, “I found it when I was trying to get away from the team after a loss. My third year was pretty rough for a lot of reasons, I guess it sort of brought my anxiety up or whatever. I don’t know, but this door just appeared when I was pacing outside trying to figure out what to do. All I was thinking was how I couldn’t face their disappointment.”

“It’s the Room of Requirement!” Cyrus exclaimed, eyes sparkling as he walked around before focusing on a table and making a jug of juice appear. “Oh! It really is!”

Jesus, he was so cute it was almost as painful as breaking my arm. Then it felt like catching the Snitch to win a tied game whenever he smiled. If I’d have known being with Cyrus Goodman felt like this, I probably wouldn’t have done such stupid stuff to feel whole. 

“I wish I’d gathered the nerve to talk to you a long time ago,” I mused quietly, making him turn around to look at me in surprise. “I think a lot of things would’ve been different.”

I watched Cyrus practically crumble from what I said before dragging me over to sit on the sofa. “So, what happened third year?”

That wasn’t something I wanted to talk about, and I’m sure it showed on my face. I’d never talked to anyone other than Amber about it, and that was only because she was my sister and went through it with me. My friends and I didn’t talk about feelings of anything like that, we talked about sports and they talked about girls. 

“You don’t have to tell me,” he tacked on, reading my silence. “I’m sorry for prying, I just want to fix things. I’m a fixer, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that by now.”

I shook my head and wrapped my arm around him, pulling him close. “And I love that about you. I’m just not good at talking about feelings, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that by now.”

His huffing noise was sweet, him crossing his arms over his chest only added to it. “That’s fine, you don’t have to tell me anything.”

“Are you pouting?” I snickered, making him huff even louder. “Oh, my god! You’re pouting.”

“I am not!” he argued, lip still jutted out.

Realizing I could this time, I lifted my hand and cupped his cheek. Then I rubbed my thumb over his bottom lip softly, making him stop breathing by the look of things. I watched him close his eyes and lean into my grasp, softening up completely and making my heart thunder against my ribs.

I swallowed thickly and said, “My parents split up in third year and it was really messy. They tried to turn Amber and me against the other parent.”

I didn’t look him in the eye because that made things too real. He didn’t miss that, he never missed anything I did. His hand sat on my chest, palm against my heart with only my t-shirt and jumper between his hand and my skin. The intimacy nearly suffocating me.

“Your heart isn’t racing like I expected,” he told me quietly, intense brown eyes holding mine. 

“I’m comfortable being honest with you,” I answered easily, shrugging. “I want to tell you everything about me, underdog.”

“I want to know everything about you,” he replied, lips quirking up at the edges into a tiny smile. “If you want me to, I mean.”

I did more than anything, but I was worried about making the jump to do it. I was afraid he wouldn’t like what I told him, he wouldn’t really like me. I don’t know if I could handle losing him.

“With my dyscalculia, I’ve always known I was stupid. I put all my effort into sports, basketball before I came to Hogwarts, because it’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at. My dad has always pushed me to be the best at whatever sport I was playing, which is a lot of pressure. Between that and the stress of the divorce, I started having a lot of anxiety,” I explained, figuring I needed to just go for it before I talked myself out of it and disappointed Cyrus. 

“My parents split up when I was ten, my mum cheated on my dad,” he said in a quiet voice, barely loud enough for me to hear. “I understand pressure, all four of my parents are really successful. Two of them work with children who have anxiety, depression, and stuff like that while the other two work in magic law. They expect me to be the top at everything and be a good person and help people… and I struggle underneath the weight of it all. That’s what causes my anxiety, and I guess it’s what causes my insecurities, too.”

“But you’re all of those things, love,” I said without hesitation, watching him smile sadly. “You’re brilliant and the best person I’ve ever met, and you saw something in me worth getting to know when I didn’t deserve it.”

Instead of saying anything about that, he changed the subject. “Who’s Amber?”

“She’s my older sister,” I answered, watching Cyrus lean back against the sofa arm before pulling me to lay against his chest. His fingers were running through my hair when I continued, “She’s a squib, and it really bothers my dad a lot. He’s a pureblood and my mum’s a muggle, but he still has some of that pureblood mentality because he was raised old school. He’s never mean to Amber or anything, but it’s always been obvious he expects more of me than her. She and I got really close under the pressure of everything, and I’m grateful, but it isn’t fair.”

Cyrus' Point of View:

I never expected TJ to open up to me the way he was, and I loved it so much. I liked having him lean on me for once, both literally and figuratively. It felt like I was always relying on his stability, having the roles reversed was really nice.

“Thank you for sharing your safe place with me,” I told him softly after we grew quiet. 

“I think my safe place is going to be somewhere different now,” he mused just as quiet, staring a hole into the cushion of the couch. “I think it might be you… unless that’s too intense and freaks you out. Then I take back what I said… which probably does freak you out because we’ve just gotten together. And now I’ve made it weird and ruined things between us like I knew I would.”

His admission had my eyes burning and something like sunshine blossoming in my insides. I stopped stroking his hair and tilted his face up until I could reach his lips with mine. I kissed him slowly, making sure the movement was soft and dripping with affection. I wanted to tell him a lot of things I couldn’t find the words for, so I hoped this did just that.

I’d kissed two other people than TJ, but I never knew it could feel like this. Kissing Iris was weird and made me feel almost uncomfortable. Kissing Jonah was strange and shocking and kind of funny now. Kissing TJ felt like what I imagine holding a livewire with your bare hand felt like, electricity coursing through my being and making me wonder if I would survive it.

We parted with TJ trailing after me and reconnecting our lips for a second time. I laughed and felt him huff in response before laughing with me. I was wrong about the previous kiss being the best one I’d ever had, feeling his smile press against mine was my new favorite thing I’ve ever experienced. 

“I want to be your safe place because you’re my adventure,” I told him, holding his pretty green eyes easily. “You make me do crazy things I never imagined I would do. I flew on a broom for you! Just because you told me you believed in me and you’d catch me if I fell!”

That made him light up like the Jack O’ Lanterns that decorated the Great Hall on Halloween. “Yeah?”

“Oh, yeah,” I agreed, making myself comfortable on the couch again. “I’m really sleepy after going through all that this morning. You really scared me, I don’t know how to be a Quidditch boyfriend.”

I realized I’d said the b-word too late to stop myself. My mouth snapped shut as I looked at TJ with big eyes, waiting for him to react. Instead of saying anything, he just went with what I’d said like it was normal conversation.

“You take naps with said boyfriend in the Room of Requirement afterwards,” he told me, making himself comfortable in my embrace. 

He said the b-word in return, the word leaving his mouth easily. “That sounds like just what the Healer ordered.”

With TJ’s weight laying against my chest, I felt my eyes growing heavy. I’d never been a fan of sleeping with people like this, it always made me nervous. I worried about accidentally drooling in my sleep or something even more embarrassing like farting. Yet, here with TJ in his safe little bubble, I wasn’t worried about anything other than making sure he never felt anxious about anything if I could help it.

…

I woke up before TJ, giving me time to look at him. The late afternoon sunlight was shining through the window, highlighting his face. He had light freckles splattered across his cheeks I’d never noticed before. His jaw was angular and made my mouth go dry for a second, something I’d never experienced -the gay was strong with this one.

“I can feel you looking at me,” he said in a gruff voice, cracking his eyes open. Then his expression turned dopey and he said, “Hi, you’re so adorable.”

“You say that like you’re not the most handsome boy in the entire universe,” I replied, my lips looser when I’ve just woken up. 

A blushy, soft TJ was going to be what ended my entire life, I’m sure of it. I lifted my hand and rubbed my thumb over his pink cheek lightly, desperate to show him the affection he’d been lacking. The feeling easily overpowering my embarrassment. 

“You said you don’t like your feelings, but you’re always so affectionate with me. Even before we got together, you always wrapped your arm around me or held my hand,” I replied, tracing the lines of his face gently now. 

“Everything I’ve ever thought is different with you. I’m different with you,” he admitted. “And I love who I am whenever we’re together. You make me want to be a better person, the kind of person who deserves you.”

“Teej, you promised you’d never make me cry again,” I whined, moving my shoulder to swipe at my cheek because my hands were busy. “Quit it!”

He laughed and moved his head to press a messy kiss to my chin. “I can’t help that I’m a wordsmith, underdog. It comes from my lack of number knowledge, it gave me more room for words to make you swoon.”

I rolled my eyes and made him snicker. “As much as I hate it, we should probably head back into the castle. I’m sure my friends are wondering where I am and if you’ve murdered me or something.”

He groaned but stood up reluctantly anyway. “Wow, I must’ve crushed you, love. The space was a lot smaller than I realized.”

I allowed him to pull me to my feet and shook my head. “No, I like that. It shouldn’t only be me cuddling up to you all the time.”

His expression was nearly overflowing with affection, adoration, and something I didn’t quite recognize. Even if it was hard, the two of us eventually made our way back out into the halls and the world of other people. I much preferred our own, personal world to that one.

“Can I tell you something that’s super alpha male and testosterone-fueled?” he asked, our twined fingers swinging between our hips. 

“Of course you can, my tragically toxic homosexual,” I replied teasingly, flashing him a look.

That made him snort before he said, “I like seeing you in my clothes. And I really like seeing you in my clothes that have my name on the back.”

“How delightfully Cro-Magnon of you,” I cooed, standing on my toes to kiss his cheek.

“Cro-Magnon?” he teased, carefree in a way I hadn’t seen before. “I love when you talk Muggle to me.”

I just laughed and replied, “You’re so lucky you’re cute!”

“If I remember correctly, I’m the most handsome boy in all of the galaxies,” he replied haughtily, releasing my hand and jogging away when I turned to flash him another look. “You’ll have to catch me to glare at me!”

Even if we both knew it was useless, I started trying to catch him… without worrying about falling for the first time in a long time. TJ already promised he'd catch me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, thank you so much for reading this story to the end! You have all been amazing and I really appreciate all your kind words and encouragement. 
> 
> I'm sure this won't be the last Tyrus story I write... but y'all probably already knew that.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I'm Tyrus trash and that's it. This is my second story and I doubt it'll be my last.


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